7~W

National Library of Scotland

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LETTERS FROM MEMBERS OF

SIR WALTER SCOTT'S FAMILY

LETTERSHITHERTO UNPUBLISHED, WRITTEN

BY MEMBERS OF SIR WALTER SCOTTS

FAMILY TO THEIR OLD GOVERNESS

Edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by

THE WARDEN OF WADHAM COLLEGE

OXFORD

1'

.

- •/

.

' v-v

LONDON

E. GRANT RICHARDS7 CARLTON STREET, S.W.

1905

Edinburgh : T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty

INTRODUCTION

The letters which follow were written to

Miss Millar, who was the governess of Sir

Walter Scott's daughters for several years

before 1817. She was treated by all the

members of the family with unvarying

courtesy and kindness, and became their

friend. The correspondence extended, as

these letters show, over more than twenty

years—from 1814 to 1837. Miss Millar

at her death in 1860 left the letters to

my aunt, in whose grandfather's family

she had been governess and a valued

friend. On my aunt's death the letters

came into my hands. By the kind per-

mission of Mr. David Chrystal, to whomthey now belong, I am enabled to publish

them. Miss Millar had parted with all

but one of the letters written to her by

Sir Walter Scott. There is nothing else

of his in this small collection, save a paper

A

2 SCOTT LETTERS

of instructions to his daughter Sophia,

written probably in 1810 or 1811, when

she was beginning to learn history.

The letters are, most of them, about what

might be called trivial matters, but they

are bright and humorous, and go to justify

the saying that women, old or young,

excel men in letter-writing—excel them

in simplicity; in making much of little

things ; in freedom from literary airs and

graces ; in good nature, on the whole

;

in cheerfulness and other good qualities

;

though not in pedantic accuracy as regards

grammar and spelling, of which our grand-

mothers and great-grandmothers made

light.

There are other letters of a different

kind written in times of trial, when em-

barrassments, failing health, and bereave-

ment visited Abbotsford ; letters which

show the resolute endurance in trouble

which is the noblest form of courage,

that greatest of the virtues, and parent of

them all.

The value of the collection consists in

INTRODUCTION 3

its showing that a man of genius can be

a good father of a family. There is no

contradiction in adjecto between genius

and duty, or even respectability, but in

many quarters there lingers the mis-

chievous superstition that a great man is

above duty, especially the simple duties

of a home. With a little ingenuity, how-

ever, the Ueber-Mensch might be shown to

be as ridiculous as the ' good family man'

;

less useful, and even more odious ; an ideal

neither realisable, nor worth realising. The

letters give a charming picture of an

affectionate and happy circle. They con-

firm the account given by Lockhart of

the relations between Sir Walter and his

children, and of his theory and practice in

the matter of their education.

' No father ever devoted more time and

tender care to his offspring than he did to

each of his, as they successively reached

the age when they could listen to him,

and understand his talk. Like their mute

playmates, Camp and the greyhounds, they

had at all times free access to his study.

4 SCOTT LETTERS

He never considered their tattle as any dis-

turbance ; he was always ready to answer

their questions, and when they, uncon-

scious how he was engaged, entreated him

to lay down his pen and tell them a story,

he would take them on his knee, repeat

a ballad or a legend, kiss them, and set

them down again to their marbles or nine-

pins, and resume his labour, as if refreshed

by the interruption. He considered it as

the highest duty as well as the sweetest

pleasure of a parent to be the companion

of his children.'

Scott's views on education are very plain

and practical, and much below the modern

standard, or above it. His sons he sent

to his own old school—the famous High

School of Edinburgh—to learn perhaps,

among other things, how to bear them-

selves bravely as he had done in desper-

ate ' bickers,' if bickers then there were.

In regard to his daughters, ' he had a

horror of boarding-schools ; never allowed

his girls to learn anything out of his own

house, and chose their governess, Miss

INTRODUCTION 5

Millar, who about this time (1808) was

domesticated with them, and never left

them while they needed one, with a far

greater regard to her kind good temper,

and excellent moral and religious principles,

than to the measure of her attainments in

what are called fashionable accomplish-

ments. Though he regretted the irregu-

larity of his own education, he never

showed much concern about regulating

systematically what is usually called educa-

tion in the case of his own children. It

seemed, on the contrary, as if he attached

little importance to anything else, so he

could perceive that the young curiosity

was excited, the intellect, by whatever

springs of interest, was set in motion. Hedetested and despised the whole generation

of modern children's books, in which the

attempt is made to convey accurate notions

of scientific minutise ; delighting cordially,

on the other hand, in those of the preceding

age, which, addressing themselves chiefly

to the imagination, obtain through it, as

he believed, the best chance of stirring our

6 SCOTT LETTERS

graver faculties also. He exercised the

memory by selecting for tasks of recita-

tion passages of popular verse the most

likely to catch the fancy of the children,

and gradually familiarised them with the

ancient history of their own country by

arresting attention in the course of his ownoral narrations on incidents and characters

of a similar description. His Sunday talk

was just such a series of biblical lessons

as that which we have preserved for the

permanent use of rising generations in the

Tales of a Grandfather on the early history

of Scotland. He had his Bible, the Old

Testament especially, by heart, and on

these days inwove the simple pathos, or

sublime enthusiasm of Scripture, in what-

ever story he was telling, with the same

picturesque richness as he did in his week-

day tales, the quaint Scotch of Pitscottie,

or some rude romantic old rhyme from

Barbour's Bruce or Blind Harry's Wallace.

By many external accomplishments, either

in girl or boy, he set little store. Hedelighted to hear his daughters sing an old

INTRODUCTION 7

ditty, or one of his own framing; but so

the singer appeared to feel the spirit of

her ballad, he was not at all critical of the

technical execution. There was one thing,

however, on which he fixed his heart hardly

less than the ancient Persians of the Cyro-

pcedia ; like them, next to love of truth, he

held love of horsemanship for the prime

point of education. As soon as his eldest

girl could sit a pony, she was made the

regular attendant of his mountain rides

;

and they all, as they attained sufficient

strength, had the like advancement. Hetaught them to think nothing of tumbles,

and habituated them to his own reck-

less delight in perilous fords and flooded

streams ; and they all imbibed in great

perfection his passion for horses—as well,

I may venture to add, as his deep rever-

ence for the more important article of that

Persian training. " Without courage," he

said, " there cannot be truth, and without

truth there can be no other virtue."

'

l

1 Vol. ii., pp. 26-28, chap. xvii.

Note.—My references are to Mr. Pollard's edition of the

8 SCOTT LETTERS

Such is Lockhart's account of Scott's

theory and practice in regard to the educa-

tion of his children. They must have been

very happy ; happier than John Stuart

Mill, nearly their contemporary, who was

receiving an education only too systema-

tic and complete. They, the girls at

least, could look back on their childhood

and youth without shuddering at dismal

memories of irregular French verbs, pain-

fully learned and happily forgotten ; or of

dreary hours wasted in efforts to acquire

' execution ' on the pianoforte.

They lived with their parents, and knew

them as companions. Their education was

a stimulating one, a training of body and

mind; of all their mental faculties, not

merely of their memories. Do we, who

think or talk more about education than

did our forefathers, know better than they

Life, in five volumes, in Messrs. Macmillan's 'Library of

English Classics'

; but for the benefit of those who possess

only the older editions, I have added the numbers of the

chapters, which are the same in all editions. The reference

to chapters is of course somewhat vague, but I do not regret

such vagueness, should it tempt or compel any one to hunt

through a chapter for each quotation.

INTRODUCTION 9

how to bring up boys and girls ? It maybe said, of course, that such an education

demands, if it is to succeed, parents, chil-

dren, and surroundings of an uncommonkind, and is an ideal impossible to realise.

Yet certain excellences in it, whether

attainable or not, are indispensable. But

the writer must refrain from pursuing the

many reflections suggested here. He will

content himself with expressing his wonder

whether among the children's books which

Scott detested were numbered the stories

written by Mrs. Sherwood ? Did he include

in his condemnation the Stories of Cawn-

pore and the Fairchild Family, or did he,

as children do, love the story and hate, or

ignore, the somewhat dreary moral lessons,

such, for instance, as are appended to the

tales of the quarrel between Henry and

his sisters, and of Emily's theft of dama-

scenes ? For Miss Edgeworth's genius he

had the highest admiration. ' He avowed x

that he should never in all likelihood have

thought of a Scotch novel had he not

1 Vol. ii., pp. 486-7, chap, xxxiii.

10 SCOTT LETTERS

read Maria Edgeworth's exquisite pieces of

Irish character. " There is a richness and

naivete" he is reported to have said—and

here Scotchmen will protest—"in Irish

character and humour, in which the Scotch

are certainly defective." He therefore read

with much delight, and made his children

read, Rosamond and the Purple Jar and

Simple Susan ; even, perhaps, the conversa-

tions on scientific subjects between Harry

and Lucy and their father, though in the

character and teaching of that amazing

parent Scott found much room for criti-

cism. 1 Was Sandford and Merton read at

Ashestiel and Abbotsford ? and, if it was,

what did they think of Mr. Barlow ? Onechapter in that curious book Scott, and

perhaps his children, must have muchenjoyed : that in which is told the story

of the fight between young Nash and

Sandford, who showed himself to be a

' human boy ' for once ; cool and resolute,

like Dobbin in the great fight with Cuff.

This lapse into barbarism redeems much1 Vol. iv., p. 314j chap, lxiii. ; and vol. v., p. 380, chap, lxxxi.

INTRODUCTION 11

in Day and his impossible hero, and miti-

gates the superiority of these too superior

persons.

Of Miss Millar the writer has an indis-

tinct remembrance. He was taken to see

her several times when she lived in Edin-

burgh. She was a benevolent old lady,

simple and kindly, fond of young people,

somewhat didactic, more accustomed pro-

bably to talk to girls than to boys, who,

being non-moral and unimpressionable to

the verge of cynicism, are not easily moved

by conversation meant to improve them ;

though they will bear much from a hostess

mindful of their creature comforts, whopresses them to eat in the hospitable,

though sometimes embarrassing, fashion of

fifty years ago. Miss Millar was a comely

old lady with large bright brown eyes, nowto the writer suggestive of that shrewdness

and humour which win young people. She

could not have been a stupid person to

whom her pupils wrote playful as well as

affectionate letters. She was devoted to

Sir Walter Scott, and a little afraid, surely

12 SCOTT LETTERS

needlessly, of the great man. One story

—a true one—used to be told by her,

illustrative of this timorous affection. She

had long wished to have a lock of his

hair, but dared not ask for it. She obtained

it by an innocent stratagem, and the con-

nivance of the barber who came to Ashes-

tiel or Abbotsford to cut Sir Walter's

hair when Lady Scott was not able to

perform that office. After the operation

was over, and Scott had left the room,

Miss Millar entered it and stole—was it a

theft ?—some of the hair which lay on the

carpet. ' A bird '—probably the barber

—

' carried the matter. ' Sir Walter heard

with much amusement of this second

'Rape of the Lock.' He sent for Miss

Millar and, to her confusion and delight,

gave her a lock of his hair cut by him-

self, which is now in the possession of

the writer.

After she left the Scott family she

had varying fortunes, and suffered under

pupils, boarders, and lodgers, comforted

by never-failing kindness and sympathy

INTRODUCTION 13

from Abbotsford, and always cheerful and

courageous. The last fifteen or twenty

years of her life she spent in Edinburgh

in fairly comfortable circumstances, visited

by many friends, to whom she was always

ready to speak of her experiences, especially

of the happiest of them, those connected

with Ashestiel and Abbotsford. She died,

as far as the writer can recollect, in 1860,

when she had probably passed her eightieth

year. Sir Walter's appreciation of Miss

Millar's worth is shown by the letter

inserted here : it was written when the

effort must have cost him much, for he

was weak and in pain, slowly recovering

from a serious illness.

My Dear Miss Millar,—The recommendation

you ask of me is an act of such very common justice

that I would have sent it by return of post, had I

not still felt some pain in stooping to write, although

my general health is much improved. I can, with

the utmost truth, bear witness to your kind andconstant attention to the education of my family

during a space of eight or nine years, when they

acquired by your instructions, reading, writing,

arithmetic, and the elementary parts of music, andof the French language. Mrs. Scott and I had

14 SCOTT LETTERS

the utmost reason to be satisfied, not only with

your mode of teaching and the instructions which

you conveyed to our children, but by your very

ladylike and prudent conduct while we had the

pleasure of having you for our inmate, a circum-

stance which is at least of as much importance to

the master and mistress of a family as the extent

of knowledge and the facility of communicating it.

In short, my dear Miss Millar, as I always con-

sidered my children as fortunate in being under

the charge of a person of your good sense and

excellent principles, I shall always feel it a small

discharge of the debt which I owe you if I can be

of any service to you in your progress through

life, and I beg you will freely have recourse to me.

I will be happy to give more full explanations and

details of your mode of teaching to any person whomay wish to make further inquiries. I should have

mentioned the elements of drawing and the usual

kinds of needlework among the arts you had the

goodness to teach my young folk. You will perhaps

have observed that Walter is gazetted cornet in the

XVIII. Hussars. It is so difficult to get into the

army just now, that I reckon myself very lucky in

the countenance of the Commander-in-Chief, whogave him a preference over many other applicants.

He leaves us in about a fortnight to join the

regiment at Cork. The girls are well, and great

comforts to me in my broken and twilight state of

health, so different from that which you remember

my enjoying. But God's will be done. I have

INTRODUCTION 15

had my day of strength and health, having scarce

known illness from 15 to 48. All here join in

kindest love, and hope next season (if not this) you

will manage to pay us a visit here. You would

hardly know the place, and we have plenty of room,

in which you know we used to be rather deficient.

Believe me most truly, dear Miss Millar, your

affectionate and obliged friend and servant,

Walter Scott.Abbotsford, 8th July 1819.

The letters explain themselves, and need

little or no commentary. The allusions

to persons, places, and events, can easily

be understood by any lover of Scott whoknows his Lockhart's Life, and will refresh

his memory by reference to that book.

The letters are some of them undated,

and their date is a matter of inference from

their contents. Some allusions could be

intelligible only to those who possess an

intimate knowledge of the family history.

And here I wish to express my sense of

the kindness of the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell

Scott, Sir Walter's great-granddaughter,

who has seen these letters, and given her

approval of their publication. She has

16 SCOTT LETTERS

expressed her pleasure and interest in

reading them, and has given me help, and

promised more, in explaining things which

without such help would have remained

obscure. But she is in no degree respon-

sible for errors or shortcomings due to

haste or ignorance on the part of the

writer, who neither admires, nor possesses,

nor, if he possessed, would display the

erudition which is apt to obscure a text

with superfluous and distracting explana-

tions.

He might have added much from the

Abbotsford Notanda of Mr. Robert Car-

ruthers, which are appended to the short

and useful memoir of Sir Walter Scott,

written by Mr. Robert Chambers. Car-

ruthers had access to the correspondence

and other papers of William Laidlaw, one

of Scott's most intimate friends."

It is an easier and more profitable task

than elaborate annotation to treat these

letters as offering us glimpses, or more

than glimpses, into the family life and

characters of their writers. Of the forty-

INTRODUCTION 17

seven letters, twenty-eight were written

by Charlotte Sophia Scott, born in 1799

;

twelve by Anne Scott, born in 1803.

Washington Irving 1 describes the sisters

as he saw them in 1817 when they were

young girls ; Sir Walter's

—

' Imps, hardy, bold, and wild,

As best befits the mountain child.' 2

' As they approached, the dogs all sprang

forward and gambolled around them.

They joined us with countenances full

of health and glee. Sophia, the eldest,

was the most lively and joyous, having

much of her father's varied spirit in con-

versation, and seeming to catch excitement

from his words and looks ; Anne was of a

quieter mood, rather silent, owing in some

measure, no doubt, to her being some years

younger.' Anne was then between four-

teen and fifteen, an age when girls, in the

presence of strangers, do not speak much,

but think the more : she was probably

1 Vol. iii., p. 135-6, chap, xxxix.2 Marmion, Introduction to Canto I.

18 SCOTT LETTERS

' taking in ' Washington Irving, and dis-

secting him with the sharp and ruthless

wit of clever maidens of that by no means

tender age. One may remark in passing

that Irving's ' appreciation ' of Scott is one

of the most genial and penetrating which

we have on record.

The two sisters resembled each other

in many respects : both were bright and

humorous girls, full of the high spirits of

youth, devoted to their father, and proud

of him ; comforts to him ' in sorrow, need,

sickness, or any other adversity.' Yet it is

possible to perceive, or imagine, differences

between them. The elder of the two, called

in the family Sophia to distinguish her from

her mother, Charlotte Margaret Scott, is

shown by her letters to have been thought-

ful, steadfast, kindly, ' douce '—to use the

pretty Scotch term, which can no more

be defined than can ' pawky ' be defined,

that mysterious word which puzzles

Southerners. She must have been, dur-

ing the last years of her unmarried life,

the leader of the family. To her fell the

INTRODUCTION 19

task, which in every family is tacitly

assigned to the fittest, of writing of

deaths and troubles, and all important

matters. To Miss Millar, the poor old

governess, who must have been some-

times troublesome, she showed inexhaust-

ible kindness and patience, as might have

been expected from her father's daughter.

Her gravity and commonsense were fre-

quently illumined by flashes of fun and

sarcasm. She, like Anne, had for her

brothers, especially for Walter, that mix-

ture of love, admiration, and contempt,

which are the notes of genuine sisterly

affection. In Letter v. she promises Miss

Millar ' the felicity of seeing your elegant

pupil Walter in his yeomanry dress, which

I can assure you he is not a little vain of.'

In Letter ix. she expresses her fear that

the cornet gazetted to the 18th Light

Hussars will ' die of pride and conceit

before he joins one of the most dashing-

regiments in the service.' She loves

' dancing to the pipes every night in the

new dining-room,' and (v. Letter iv.) she

20 SCOTT LETTERS

' only hopes she may get half as manybeaux in Edinburgh as she has had in

the country.' In letter No. vn. she shows

her pride in the beauty of her sister, who'is grown up a handsome girl, and is muchadmired,' and who, happily, has her faults ;

for she is a poor correspondent;perhaps

too fastidious about her writing and spell-

ing, for ' the fair authoress ' has in her

sister's sight been destroying ' three differ-

ent epistles.'

The other side of Sophia's character is

shown in Letters xiii., xxv., and xxxiii.

She writes to her governess about her

engagement to Lockhart in simple and

womanly words, on which comment would

be worse than superfluous. When the

financial disaster came in 1826, one that

affected or seemed likely to affect not her

father and brothers and sister only, but

herself and her husband, she faced it with

admirable courage and composure. 'Worse

things,' she says, ' may happen to a family

besides loss of fortune,' and adds, ' yet one

cannot but feel sorrow to think that such

INTRODUCTION 21

a man should have to labour so hard after

having done so much.' Stoicism is good,

but tenderness is better.

She died in May 1 837 ' after a long ill-

ness.' as her husband writes, 'which she

bore with all possible meekness and forti-

tude : of all the race she most resembled

her father in countenance, in temper, and

in manners.'

She left two children, one of whommarried Mr. Hope-Scott, and was the

mother of the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell-Scott,

who with her children are the only surviv-

ing representatives of the family which

entered Abbotsford in 1812.

Two days before his wife's death Lock-

hart (v. Letter xlv.) wrote to Miss Millar,

asking her to send him copies of ' Sophia's

early letters, of which you speak so highly,'

in addition to the ' very welcome transcripts

of Sir Walter's letters to yourself which

he had already received. The twenty-eight

letters now published must have been the

originals of some of the copies sent to

Lockhart, and were used, no doubt, by

22 SCOTT LETTERS

him when he wrote the Life of Scott.

Other letters probably, now lost, were

written by Sophia to Miss Millar, for

the correspondence, as given here, is

broken by long intervals, and we maywell believe that the 'affectionate pupil,'

as she often signs herself, did not allow

years to elapse without writing to a

woman who had in a remarkable degree

the power, which most good and simple

people have, of winning the regard of

persons superior to themselves in every

respect except goodness.

Anne Scott is described by her father 1

as 'an honest downright good Scots lass,

in whom I could only wish to correct a

spirit of satire.' He blesses her for ' prac-

tising Scots songs, which I take as a kind

compliment to my own taste, as hers leads

her chiefly to foreign music' The good girl

saw that her father ' wanted and must miss

her sister's peculiar talent in singing the

airs of their native country, which always

made the most pleasing impression on him.'

1 Vol. iv., p. 374, chap. lxv.

INTRODUCTION 23

Lockhart in the Life,1 writes of her as

' a lively rattling girl of sixteen,' and tells

the story of the ' egg,' and the reckless

audacity of ' Lady Anne ' which made her

father frown, and then laugh.

The twelve letters published here confirm

the impression given by these utterances of

her father and of her brother-in-law to be.

Anne was a ' good ' girl, and a merry one

;

full of the mischief which makes goodness

irresistible. In Letter xv. she gives play to

her ' spirit of satire,' indicating her opinion

that 'ladies intellectual' were not usually

extremely likeable. Nor does she spare a

certain Miss Ramsay, whom perhaps she

thought her brother inclined to admire,

and judged accordingly, as sisters often do.

In Letter xviii., where her grammar is not

irreproachable, she laughs at her brother

Charles' ' ambition to be a man' ;

gibes

at the "great Maria,' who, though an

authoress, and given to talking more

than listening, won the liking of her young

critic; and concludes with some cynical

1 Vol. iii., p. 230, chap, xliii.

24 SCOTT LETTERS

remarks about long engagements, wonder-

ing why one of the 'old Miss Fraser

Tytlers ' and her fiance—he especially

—

did not ' change their minds.' In Letters

xx. and xxn. she seems to rejoice in the

perversion of Agnes Hume, who is 'no

longer holy, nor very good, but dresses in

white satin and goes to balls.' But her

malice is the malice only of a good-natured

and happy girl.

Alas ! her unclouded happiness was not

of long duration. At the age of twenty-one

(v. Letter xix.) she seems to have shown

the first symptoms of the delicacy and weak

health which did not subdue her gaiety.

Her letters (Nos. xx. and xxu.) are full of

the elasticity which she inherited from her

father. Equally bright is the letter (No.

xxiv.) in which she describes her tour in

Ireland with her father in the autumn of

1825. They had a happy time in that

' distressful ' country, where distress takes

many pleasant forms, and which is full of

humour and pathos, of memories of un-

successful heroism and wild adventure

;

INTRODUCTION 25

material out of which Sir Walter, had fate

permitted, would surely have made an

Irish Waverley or Rob Roy. 1825 was

the last year of nearly perfect happi-

ness for the Scott family. In 1826 came

two great calamities ; the death of Lady

Scott, the first gap made by death in the

family circle ; and desperate embarrass-

ments of worse than poverty, of debt

apparently insurmountable. Yet neither

Anne, nor her father, nor her brothers, nor

her sister failed to meet misfortune bravely

and cheerfully. She writes more quietly,

now sobered by her first experience of the

'changes and chances of this mortal life.'

In 1828 she went with her father to

Carlisle and Edinburgh. At Carlisle

she writes to Lockhart, ' Papa took mewith him to the Cathedral : this he had

often done before, but he said he must

stand once more on the spot where he

married poor mamma.' 1 The incident re-

calls the last lines of the ' Sad fortunes

of the Rev. Amos Barton,' which describe

1 Vol. v., p. 209, chap, lxxvi.

26 SCOTT LETTERS

another father and daughter standing, not

in a cathedral, but by the dead wife's and

mother's grave in a dreary churchyard.

In Letter xxxi., after some hesitation, I

have allowed a passage to remain in which

Anne tells Miss Millar of her rejection of

an offer of marriage. It is an old story, and

to let it be told will hurt no one now. It

was impossible that an attractive girl, hand-

some, sensible, and witty, a good daughter

and a good sister, should have had no

suitors, for she was well worth the winning,

though not easily won. There is always

something pathetic about a love story

which comes to nothing ; in her story, the

' pity of it ' lies in this, that the heroine,

after the twenty-third year of her short

life, had little happiness, though she was

comforted by the sense of usefulness, and

of duty faithfully performed under the

burdens of anxiety and poor health.

Her last journey with her father was to

Malta and Naples at the end of 1831.

Both of them were in quest of health and

strength. They did not find what they

INTRODUCTION 27

sought, and returned home, he to die at

Abbotsford in September 1832. She was

with him when he died. ' She never,' as her

brother Charles writes in Letter xxxvu.,' recovered from the shock of her father's

death.' 'The strange and awful scenes,'

to which she alludes in her last letter to

Miss Millar, had broken her down, and

after a winter and spring, spent in London

under the loving care of her sister and

brother-in-law, she followed her father.

That she was ready to follow him weknow from a touching passage in the Life,

1

' Her constitution had been miserably

shattered in the course of her long and

painful attendance first on her mother's

illness and then on her father's ; and

perhaps reverse of fortune, and disappoint-

ments of various sorts connected with that,

had also heavy effect. From the day of

Sir Walter's death, the strong stimulus of

duty being lost, she too often looked and

spoke like one

"Taking the measure of an unmade grave."

1 Vol. v., p. 451, chap, lxxxiv.

28 SCOTT LETTERS

She died in my house in the Regent's Park

on the 25th of June 1833, and her remains

are placed in the New Cemetery in the

Harrow Road. The adjoining grave holds

those of her nephew, John Hugh Lock-

hart, who died on the 15th of December

1831, and also those of my wife Sophia.'

Sir Walter's remains lie, far away from

Harrow Road,

<f>i\rj iv irarpihi yoLLy,

in Dryburgh Abbey, 'by the side of his

wife in the sepulchre of his ancestors.'

Only one letter from Lady Scott was

kept by Miss Millar ; a letter of a simple

domestic character, worth inserting for the

mention of the ' little people,' for its record

of the menu of a dinner in Scotland ninety

years ago, and most of all because it was

written by Scott's wife. It has been said

that she was not the wife for him. That

was not Scott's opinion. She has been

represented as a dull woman who did not

understand her husband, nor his greatness.

She can hardly have been a dull woman

INTRODUCTION 29

who wrote the letters during her engage-

ment which are given in the Life.1 It is

questionable also whether a husband and

wife ought to entirely understand each

other, and whether some room ought not

to be left for mystery and illusion on both

sides. Ought both husband and wife to be

persons of genius ? Surely the married life

of two geniuses, even of two clever persons,

is generally deficient in comfort and re-

pose, and the old Scotsman was right

who said that ' ae sensible partner ' (he

might have said ' ae genius ')' is enough in

the married state.'

This much is clear, that Scott loved his

wife dearly, and felt her death profoundly.

Entries in the Diary 2 from May 11 to

October 11, 1826, show how he missed his

' thirty years' companion'

; missed not

literary sympathy, but ' the affectionate

care which smoothed his pillow, and offered

condolence and assistance'

; words which

1 Vol. i. , chap. viii.

2 Vol. iv., p. 507, chap. lxx. ; and vol. v., chap. lxxi.

passim.

30 SCOTT LETTERS

the writer would not quote but for in-

dignation with thoughtless chatter. His

daughters had the same love for one whodid not put herself en evidence in the

family history, but was none the less for

that a good wife and mother.

Two great men have criticised Scott

with much severity. Byron, with the

petulance of youth, when, to use his ownwords, addressed to Scott after they be-

came friends, ' I was very young and very

angry, and, fully bent on displaying mywrath and my wit, called him " Apollo's

venal son.":

Carlyle, with the petulance

which did not diminish as he grew older,

and which made him unjust to friend and

foe, and to himself, spoke of Scott as

actuated by no higher motive than the

desire to make money, become a laird, and

found a family;yet with a happy incon-

sistency he recognises in him qualities

not usually co-existent with commonplace

ambitions. This is not the place for a

discussion of these criticisms. They are

mentioned only because, even were it con-

INTRODUCTION 31

ceded that they are partly just, there can

be discerned between the lines of these

unpretending letters two ' notes ' of mag-

nanimity in the character of Scott, un-

selfishness, and heroic endurance, more

than endurance, a ' noble cheerfulness ' and

indomitable energy under misfortunes

which would have crushed any man not

really great. Carlyle saw Scott's greatness

in the extracts from the Diary given by

Lockhart. The stern critic rightly calls

the feelings and conduct evidenced by

these extracts ' tragical and beautiful,' and

speaks of Scott as one man of genius ought

to speak of another ; for Carlyle knew howto praise what is worthy of praise, when he

saw it clearly, with vision undimmed by

biliousness, depression, and fatigue.

No one can understand Scott or do

justice to him who has not read his Diary.

Being human, he was not faultless; but

every one is truly judged by his best, not

by his worst ; for his best is the real nature

of the man ; a comforting doctrine, but

true. Scott was most himself during the

32 SCOTT LETTERS

last six years of his life. When financial

ruin came, in the early months of 1826, he

was in the fifty-fourth year of a laborious

life ; his health was breaking, if not broken

;

his eldest son and eldest daughter had left

Abbotsford for homes of their own; his

wife and beloved grandson, ' Hugh Little-

john,' were ill, and soon to be taken from

him. His ruin was complete, and seemed

irretrievable, for he owed £130,000. Never

did misfortunes come to any one in heavier

battalions. He disdained to clear himself

by bankruptcy, unless it were forced upon

him; 1for bankruptcy, he said, 'I should, in

a Court of Honour, deserve to lose myspurs. God grant me health and strength,

and I will yet pay every man his due.'

Within two years he paid £40,000, made

by writing Woodstock, The Life of

Napoleon, The Tales of a Grandfather*,

and The Fair Maid ofPerth tand by selling

the copyright of his earlier works. He for-

gave Constable and Ballantyne, to whom—and alas ! to his own carelessness—his

1 Vol. iv., p. 419, chap, lxvii.

INTRODUCTION 33

ruin was due. He spent time and money

in helping other unfortunate men of letters,

some of whom had neither claim on him,

nor any merit of their own. 1 Though

he suffered from sickness, loneliness, and

sorrow, he kept his troubles to himself,

and, on public occasions, and in the society

of old friends, he showed himself brave

and serene, with frequent flashes of humour

and almost gaiety. His indomitable hero-

ism was rewarded by widespread sympathy

and respect ; it was rewarded also by offers,

invariably refused, of pecuniary assistance

from persons of very various kinds ; from

'Poor Mr. Pole, 2 the harper, who sent to

offer me £500 or £600, probably his all,' to

some unknown friend 3 who made him ' the

very odd anonymous offer of £30,000.'

On the day after his wife's death,4 he

writes, ' I scarce know how I feel—some-

1 Vol. v., pp. 168-76, chap. lxxv. These pages are worth

reading for the comical story of G. H. Gordon and for other

reasons.2 Vol. iv., p. 416, chap. lxvi.

3 Vol. iv., p. 435, chap, lxvii.

4 Vol. iv., p. 507, chap. lxx.

C

34 SCOTT LETTERS

times as firm as the Bass Rock ; sometimes

as weak as the water that breaks on it.'1

This alternation of depression and fortitude

can be traced all through the Diary, which

no one, unless he is blinded by literary or

political antagonism, can read without

affection and veneration for the ' real

'

Scott.

The Conclusion ' in Lockhart's Life of

Scott is one of the best chapters in that

admirable book. There are explained

things which puzzle Scott's admirers, his

1 dream not of personal fame,' but of long

distant generations rejoicing in the name

of ' Scott of Abbotsford'

; his ' fatal con-

nection with merchandise' ; his conceal-

ment of that connection, and carelessness

in the conduct of it; his almost extrava-

gant loyalty to George in. and George iv.,

apparently incompatible with his fervent

Jacobitism.

1 ' His Diary shows that, in spite of the dignified

equanimity which characterised all his conversation with

mankind, he had his full share of the delicate sensibilities,

the mysterious ups and downs, the wayward melancholy,

the fantastic sunbeams of the poetical temperament.'

(Lockhart, vol. v., p. 152, chap, lxxiv.)

INTRODUCTION 35

It is dangerous to speculate on the dura-

tion of literary fame, but it seems probable

that the reaction, now beginning, from1 psychological analysis ' and general ' sub-

jectivity,' will, in the course of this new

century, raise Scott's poetry and novels

to even a higher place in literature than

was awarded to them seventy years ago.

Should the publication of these letters help

in the humblest way towards such a con-

summation, the writer will have had a far

more than adequate reward for his poor

performance of a pleasant duty.

SCOTT LETTERS

Sir Walter Scott to his daughter

Sophia. 1

1810(?).

Beneath every king's reign Papa expects

Sophia to write down neatly and in good

1 This undated letter, in Sir Walter's clearest and most

careful handwriting, was written to a child of probably ten

or eleven years of age, and comes first in interest as well

as in date of the letters here published. In it is implied,

if not stated, the theory of history which found expres-

sion in the Tales of a Grandfather, written for his daughter's

son sixteen or seventeen years later. Sir Walter would

have been impatient with any one who told him that great

men are the products of their age, and who talked to himabout laws of history, and causation, and prediction. It is

painful to think what he would have said about Comte and

Buckle and their adherents. In his view great men madetheir age, and history was to him not a science, but a

romance. He was a hero-worshipper, and would have

agreed with Carlyle in believing that 'the history of whatman has accomplished in this world is the history of the

great men who have worked here ; they were the leaders

of men these great ones.' The best comment on this letter

is the passage quoted in the Introduction, where Lockhart

37

38 SCOTT LETTERS

spelling the following particulars : Whether

his reign was peaceful or warlike.

If warlike, with whom he was at war ;

and particularly whether with his ownsubjects or foreign nations. Also whether

he was victorious in battle (generally), or

defeated.

Whether any great alterations of govern-

ment took place in his reign, and what

they were.

Whether he was a good man or a bad.

Whether the condition of his subjects was

amended or became worse under his reign.

II

My dear Miss Millar,—Mr. Scott

finds that he has so many things to settle

here, and besides so 1 unable to resist the

describes Scott's lectures on history delivered to his ownchildren. Would that he were lecturing or writing nowfor older children ! Such a wish implies no discontent with

the instructive lectures on history now delivered by the

professors in the University of Weissnichtwo.1 The editor has not corrected the mistakes in grammar

or spelling which occur in some of these letters ; deficiencies

in both were more common a hundred years ago than now,

and were then, as now, compatible with intellectual and

SCOTT LETTERS 39

temptation of remaining here a little longer,

that he has put off our return to Town for

Monday next, when we hope to have the

pleasure of seeing you, and to find you all

well. Will you have the goodness to tell

the Cook that we are to have a large party

to dine with us on Wednesday next ; there-

fore wishes she would get on Saturday, feet

for jelly, and meat for soup, and either a

Saddle or a handsome piece of Beef for the

bottom dish, also pallets, sweet bread, etc.

Will you also tell her I will bring with mea Hen, Chickens, and, if I can, Ducks

;

therefore not to bespeak any poultry or fish

until I come. The weather here is fine, but

very cold, so much so that ice may be seen

early in the morning, and which has done

much damage among the plants. Sophia

joins me in kindest and best wishes to you;

moral qualities of the highest kind. It must be rememberedthat Lady Scott was French and bilingual, and that it is

hard to write correctly in two languages, and not easy to

do so in one. Professor Hodgson has shown in his Errors

in the Use of English that the best English writers write

bad English. We must therefore pardon Lady Scott andher daughters, and her husband also, for being supra gram-maticam.

40 SCOTT LETTERS

love to all the little people,1 and a thousand

kisses, and believe me yours very sincerely,

M. Charlotte Scott.

Remember us to the Russells and

Rutherford. I hope you will be able to

read this scrawl I am writing in such a

hurry.

Wednesday, Two o'clock.

Will you tell John that I hope he will

amuse himself with cleaning his plate

stands, etc.

Abbotsford (?), June 9, 1814.

Ill

Abbotsford, August 3, 1817.

My dear Miss Millar,—It gave us

great pleasure to hear that you were upon a

nearer view pleased with your situation, and

that you found Miss Scrymegour though

a little spoilt a very good girl. I went

with Papa and Mamma upon the 12th

1 The little people are of course Walter, Anne, and

Charles, aged respectively ahout thirteen, eleven, and eight.

SCOTT LETTERS 41

to Drumlanrig, Captain Adam Ferguson x

went with us also. We went first to Loch

Lomond to visit Mr. Macdonald Buchanan,

and when we were there Papa and the rest

of the gentlemen went up to the head of

the Loch to see Rob Roy's cave ; none of

the ladies to my great mortification were

allowed to be of the party, as they did not

know but they might have had to sleep all

night in an ale-house which they were to

land at, in case they could not make out

Ross

:

2as it was they landed at Ross about

eleven o'clock, highly pleased with their

expedition. We went from Ross to

Drumlanrig round by Greenock and Largs,

at which last place we walked over the

1 Captain Adam Ferguson, the son of Dr. Adam Ferguson

(Lockhart, vol. ivv p. 41, chap, lvi.), was one of the earliest

and most valued of Scott's friends. ' He combined the

lightest and most airy temper with the best and kindest

disposition.' They had 'high jinks' together in their

youth ; a ludicrous story is told of the origin of Ferguson's

cognomen c Linton.' He became Scott's neighbour in 1818,

and lived at Huntly Burn after his retirement from the

army, and became keeper of the Regalia ' to the great joy

of all Edinburgh.' (Vol. i., p. 43, chap. i. ; n. 162, chap. i.;

vol. iii.,, p. 158, chap, xl.)

2 See in Lockhart's Life (vol. iii., p. 125, chap. xxxix.)

Scott's lines on this expedition.

42 SCOTT LETTERS

ground where the battle against the Danes

was fought ; the remains of immense cairns

of stones mark the battle. I daresay you

will be sorry to hear that poor Mrs.

Laidlaw * is dead ; she died about two

months ago. Perhaps you may have heard

that Lady Hood is married. She married

a very pleasant clever man, Mr. Stewart of

Glasserton, who has a very good fortune

;

so she has dropped the ladyship, and is nowplain Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie : she sent

us gloves, cake, and favours. The new

house is coming on very fast ; they are

building the last story, and it looks beauti-

ful. We spend most of our time in airing

ourselves upon the top, and I think it will

be wonderful if it is finished without any

of us breaking our necks. Lord Somerville

is going to give us a boat for our Loch :

2it

is to be launched to-morrow with due

1 Mother of William Laidlaw, Scott's steward or factor,

and valued friend. (Vol. iii., p. 136, chap, xxxviii., and

Introduction.)2 The loch was Cauldshields Loch, near the scene of

Thomas the Rhymer's interviews with the Queen of

Elfland. The boat was called 'Search No. I,' in allusion

to the Antiquary, chap, xxiii. (Mrs. Maxwell-Scott.)

SCOTT LETTERS 43

ceremony, the noble donor and the Scotts

of Mertoun to be present. Mamma and

Papa with all of us join me in best wishes to

you, and believe me to remain your affec-

tionate pupil,

Charlotte Sophia Scott.

You must just put enough of boiling

water in the milk to make it sufficiently

warm.

Write soon.

IV

Edinburgh, November 25, 1817.

My dear Miss Millar,—Ann and I

return you many thanks for your very

pretty purses. I can assure you they came

in very good time, for we had just come to

town, and according to custom had lost

every thing in the shape of a purse, and

were reduced to the disgraceful alternative

of carrying our shillings (I won't say pence)

in our glove, to our infinite loss. Papa has

been very well till within a fortnight ago,

44 SCOTT LETTERS

when he had a severe fit of the cramp, but

he is now quite recovered, and I hope will

pass the winter without any more returns

of that severe complaint, 1for you have no

idea of the dreadful pain of the attacks,

and the more so as they always come on in

the night. Abbotsford is looking beauti-

ful. The new house was just going to be

roofed in when I left it, so that I think that

by next summer we will be able to inhabit

it. Papa has made a great addition to his

property lately, for he has bought Mr.

Usher's place of Toftfield, which makes

our ground extend up to the foot of the

Eildon hills, and even up part of them,

and, besides that, there is an excellent rich

house upon it (that Mr. Usher had just

built, but had never gone into, as it is

hardly finished), that Capt. Ferguson and

his sisters are coming to live in next year,

so we will have a merry summer of it with

him so near a neighbour. We had the

famous Mr. Wilkie, the painter, for a

fortnight at Abbotsford, when Capt.

1 See Scott's letter, vol. iii., pp. 138-9, chap, xxxix.

SCOTT LETTERS 45

Ferguson and his sister were with us, and

he made a capital picture of the whole

family, which he intends to finish in

London for the exhibition, and afterwards

to engrave, so we will have a print of it.

We are all drawn in character. Ann and

I as two milkmaids with pails upon our

heads, Papa sitting, and Capt. Ferguson

standing, looking for all the world like

an old poacher who understands his trade.

Papa has got us a most delightful new harp

from London the other day. It and the

stand for the books cost £119, so you maythink that it is a very handsome thing. Wehad Lady Byron 1

for a day at Abbotsford.

She is very pretty and very melancholy.

We went to the Melrose and Selkirk balls,

besides a delightful dance at the Duke of

Buccleuch's, so for my part I find the

1 See Scott's letter to Miss Joanna Baillie (vol. iii., p. 138,

chap, xxxix.), a letter of importance as bearing on the Byron

controversy. Laidlaw gives the following description of

Lady Byron :' Her ladyship is a beautiful little woman,

with fair hair, a fine complexion, and rather large blue eyes;

face not round. She looked steadily gi-ave, and seldom

smiled. I thought her mouth indicated great firmness, or

rather obstinacy.' {Abbotsford Notanda, p. 150.)

46 SCOTT LETTERS

country far more gay than the town. I

believe I will go a little about this winter.

I only hope I may get half as many beaux

as I have had in the country.

I hope you will write soon, for you knowmy penchant for receiving a letter. Webegin all our studies this week. Mamma,Papa, Walter, Ann, and Charles, join mein best love to you, and believe me to

remain, my dear Miss Millar, your affec-

tionate pupil,

Charlotte Sophia Scott.

Excuse writing for my sake.

Grandmamma, the Humes, 1 the Russels,

and Miss Rutherford are quite well.

1 For Scott's own account of his relationships see vol. i.,

pp. 8-11, chap, i., and chap, ii., pp. 49-64, for Lockhart's com-

ment. He came of ' decent people,' being by his mother's side

a Swinton, and through his father's side descended from Scott

of Harden, and thus connected with the house of Buccleuch.

Scott was proud of his gentle birth, and it deeply affected

his character and his views of many things :' To be a chief

of the soil and its people, and contemplate his children as

succeeding him in the same position, was with him to realise

one of the poetical dreams which haunted his mind.' It was

an ambition, not of a vulgar parvenu, but one ' grafted on

that ardent feeling for blood and kindred which was the

great redeeming element in the social life of the Middle

SCOTT LETTERS 47

VOctober 18, 1818.

My dear Miss Millar,— I received

your kind letter, and I can assure you that

it gave us all very great pleasure to hear

of your getting a good situation. Mammaand Papa desire me to say that it would

give them very great 'pleasure if you could

spare time to come and see all our improve-

ments here ; if you would write to me the

day you can come, we would be down to

meet you at the toll. I can assure you

(though I say it that should not say it)

Abbotsford is well worth looking at now.

Do try and come here as soon as you can,

as we cannot expect the weather to remain

long as delightful as it is at present : be-

sides, if you come at the beginning of

next week you will have the supreme

Ages. There was much kindness surely in such ambition

;

in spite of the apparent contradiction in terms, was there

not really much humility about it?' Scott worshipped

birth and genius, not rank nor money. See a striking

passage in the Life, vol. iv., pp. 329-31, chap. lxiv.

48 SCOTT LETTERS

felicity of seeing your elegant pupil 1

Walter in his yeomanry dress, which, I

can assure you, he is not a little vain

of. Papa asked him lately what his

brilliant genius inclined him to, and he

declared that he would be nothing

but a soldier ; so a soldier he is to be.

If you see Miss Hume before you come

here, be sure and give my very best

love to her. I daresay you will have

been sorry to hear that Miss Russel has

lost her brother Alexander. He died of

a fever in India ; she has been very ill in

consequence. Perhaps you will be so good

as to enquire how she does, and bring us

word. Dear Miss Millar, hoping to see

you here very soon, I reserve all my news

till we meet, and believe me to remain

your very affectionate friend,

Charlotte Sophia Scott.

1 The ' elegant pupil ' was then a handsome boy of seven-

teen. See an account of him—of ' his muscular strength,

his sweet and even temper, and talents, which in the son of

any father but his would have been considered brilliant "

—

in Lockhart, vol. v., p. 464, addenda to the last chapter.

He died childless in 1847, and with him the baronetcy

expired. Sophia idolised him, and ridiculed her idol, as

SCOTT LETTERS 49

You will find your old friend Mr. Terry l

here. We dance to the pipes 2 almost every

night in the new dining-room. Excuse

this horrid writing, but the man is waiting

to take this up to Selkirk, that you mayget it a day sooner.

VI

My dear Miss Millar,—I write this

to let you know that we have just heard

of the death of Mamma's brother, Mr.

Carpenter : he died upon the 4th of March,

after an illness of about a week. You will

be glad to hear that he has left the whole

worshippers sometimes do. Compare Letter ix. for another

exhibition of the ways of sisters.

1 Daniel Terry, the 'ingenious comedian.' A charming

sketch of him is given by Lockhart (vol. ii., pp. 102-3, chap,

xix.). He was one of the many hapless men of letters to

whom Scott gave assistance when he was himself in need

and necessity. To him was due the adaptation to the stage

of some of the Waverley novels, what Scott used to call

their ' Terrification.

'

2 The pipes to which they danced were played by a ' tall

and stalwart bagpiper, in complete Highland costume,

pacing to and fro on the green before the house.' Hewas named ' John of Skye,' and was professionally a hedger

and ditcher, who ' only figured with the pipe and philabeg

on high occasions.' (Lockhart, vol. iii., pp. 219-21, chap, xlii.)

D

50 SCOTT LETTERS

of his fortune to be equally divided be-

tween us four ; that is to say, we are to

get full possession of it after Mrs. Car-

penter's death, as she is to have the

interest of it all during her life. He has

not even left a farthing to Mamma, or any

other person. We do not know exactly

how much the fortune is, but it is very

considerable : there is thirty thousand safe

in this country, and I believe that there

is as much, or more, in India. 1 Papa is

talking of going abroad in September, and

of taking Mamma and us four as far as

Geneva, there to leave us to join some

party, and proceed homewards by Paris,

while himself and Walter will proceed to

Italy, and from thence over to Greece

;

but this is only a talk, though I daresay

it will take place, as Papa is very anxious

that Walter should get rid of his shy-

ness by going abroad before he enters

the Guards, as it is now settled he is to

go into that regiment, on account of their

1 This estimate of the fortune was much exaggerated.

See Lockhartj vol. iii., pp. 240-1.

SCOTT LETTERS 51

not going to the East or West Indies.

Our uncle dying has made quite a noise

in the town : all the old women in the

town torment Papa with questions about

poor Mr. Carpenter's will. Papa wishes

that he could write the whole story over

the door. I hope that you will write to

me very soon, and let me know how you

like your new situation.

The Duke 1is gone abroad for his health,

and has taken Adam Ferguson with him.

We hope that, if you should come to town,

that you will take up your quarters here.

I remain, dear Miss Millar, with best

love from all here, yours very affectionately,

Charlotte Sophia Scott.

39 Castle Street,2

Friday, December 12, 1818.

1 The Duke of Buccleuch.2 39 North Castle Street was the house in which Scott lived

from 1798 down to 1826. He used it as his town house,

spending his vacations, and occasional holidays, at Lass-

wade, or Ashestiel, or Abhotsford. ' The cabin was con-

venient,' he writes in his Diary, March 15, 1826, ' and habit

had made it agreeable to me. This morning I leave it for

the last time. Farewell, poor 39—" Ha til mi tulid " ' (I

return no more). (Lockhart, vol. iv., p. 476, chap, lxviii.)

52 SCOTT LETTERS

VII

Abbotsford, llth May 1819-

My dear Miss Millar,—I would have

written to you long ago, but Papa's dread-

ful state of health 1for these last two

months has prevented me from thinking of

anything but himself; and at one time,

for nearly three weeks, there did not pass

one night in which we were not up, either

the whole night, or most part of it; and

constantly wanted in his room the whole

day, so that what with nursing him and

writing for him I had not one momentto myself. He is now, thank God, getting

quite well, and, I trust, past all danger of

1 During the whole of this year, especially in March and

April, Scott suffered terribly from ' a recurrence of the

maladies (cramp in the stomach, and jaundice) which had

so much alarmed his friends in the early part of the year

1817, and which had continued ever since to torment him

at intervals.' (Lockhart, chap. xliv. passim. ) He was now in

his forty-ninth year, and twenty years of excessive literary

labour had brought their penalty. His health, as he writes

to Southey, was now ' very totterish,' but his energy and

industry were undiminished. It was in this year that he

first employed an amanuensis. The account given by

Lockhart (vol. iii., p. 280, chap. xliv. ) of William Laidlaw's

performances in that capacity is well worth reading.

SCOTT LETTERS 53

a relapse. For three weeks, to add to the

jaundice, he had the most dreadful spasms

in his stomach, every twenty-four hours,

which lasted, notwithstanding immense

quantities of opiates, and sometimes bleed-

ing, eight, nine, and ten hours at a time

;

and one attack remained unmoved for

thirty-six hours, during all which time

he was not five minutes free from the

most dreadful agony. Though we have

been in the country since Papa was taken

ill, and consequently had many incon-

veniences to struggle with, yet, upon the

whole, it was better that we were here,

as besides Dr. Clarkson coming every day,

we had his son, a very clever young man,

staying in the house ; and what made us

very easy was that when Dr. Ross came

out, he found that everything had been

done that was possible. Doctor Baillie

also declared that he could advise nothing

more than what had been already done.

You would be much shocked at the

death of poor Joseph Hume

;

l he died in

1 See Lockhart, vol. iii., p. 274, chap. xliv. Joseph Hume

54 SCOTT LETTERS

five minutes; he had had a sore throat,

but not the very least danger apprehended,

so much so that they were to have com-

pany to dinner. He was in bed, and

talking to his sister, when he fell back

choking, and in two minutes all was

over. The doctors seem to think that

it was a sudden spasm in the throat.

What a dreadful loss to his family ; and

to make it still worse, if possible, he was

going to be married to one of Sir John

Hay's daughters almost immediately.

Papa's dear and best friend, the Dukeof Buccleuch, 1 has taken leave of this life

was the only son of Mr. David Hume, Professor of Scots Lawin the University of Edinburgh, whose lectures Scott had

attended with much profit and pleasure, when reading for

the bar. The Professor became Baron of the Exchequer.

He was a cultivated man, and seems to have been among the

first who penetrated the disguise of the author of Waverley,

arguing that ' he must be of a Jacobite family and predilec-

tions, a yeoman-cavalryman, and a Scottish lawyer.' TheBaron was a nephew of the greater David Hume, whomScott knew only by his rhymes written on a pane of glass in

an inn at Carlisle, ' the only rhymes the philosopher was

ever known to be guilty of.' (Lockhart, vol. iii., p. 31,

chap, xxxv.)x See Scott's letter in Lockhart, vol. iii., pp. 288-90,

chap. xliv.—the letter of one mourning the loss not of a

' noble patron,' but of his friend and the chief of his clan.

SCOTT LETTERS 55

upon the 20th of last month, at Lisbon,

where he had gone for his health, accom-

panied by Captain Adam Ferguson : al-

though Papa has been expecting that sad

event for some time, still it has been a

dreadful shock to him. The country is

looking quite beautiful, and we regret

very much being under the necessity of

returning to town the day after to-morrow.

I hope that you find your present situation

comfortable, and that your young charge

is improving as rapidly as you can wish.

You will be glad to hear that Walter is

likely to experience no inconvenience or

delay in getting into the army, although

it is such a difficult matter at present

;

but the Duke of York says that he will

get over everything for Mr. Scott. Charles

is quite well, and doing very well at the

High School, which he is attending at

present. At some future time Papa talks

of putting him to some good school at

Geneva. We were pretty gay before weleft town, and had so many invitations that,

if we had accepted a quarter of them, we

56 SCOTT LETTERS

might have been at two or three places a

night, but we kept on the side of modera-

tion. Anne is grown up a very hand-

some girl,1 and is much admired : she is

improved very much upon the harp ; in-

deed, Mr. Pole says that, if she would

practise, she would be one of the best

players in town, for the time she has been

at it. I hope your friends the Toveys are

well : it must be a great pleasure to you

their being so near.

I hope that you will write to me very

soon, and believe me to remain, with best

love to you, in which I am joined by all

the family, yours ever most affectionately,

Charlotte Sophia Scot.

VIII

My dear Miss Millar, — You will

rejoice to hear that Papa is quite well now,

and the improvement has been so gradual

that there is no chance (at least to all

1 Anne was now sixteen, a ' lively, rattling girl ' (Lockhart,

vol. iii., p. 230, chap, xlii.), and probably averse to steady

practice on the harp, or in letter-writing (see Letter vni.).

SCOTT LETTERS 57

appearance) of a relapse—be has got quite

rid of his yellow complexion, and feels no

other inconvenience than a temporary

weakness. Both Papa and Mamma set

out to-day at twelve o'clock for Abbots-

ford, and Papa thinks that, if he feels

quite stout, he will not return here, but

send Mamma back in about a fortnight,

or three weeks, to arrange this house, and

transport us all out to Abbotsford to re-

main the summer. The fish arrived quite

safe, and were most excellent, and you

would have heard of their arrival long

ago, if you had trusted me to write

to you ; but after having witnessed the

destruction of three different epistles of

Anne's by the hand of the fair authoress,

I in despair take the pen, as you are not

very likely to hear often from the young

lady. I will write to you the very momentI hear from Abbotsford, and believe meto remain, in a dreadful hurry, your very

sincere friend,

C. Sophia Scott.

39 Castle Street, Monday, June 14, 1819.

58 SCOTT LETTERS

IX

My dear Miss Millar,—I have the

pleasure to be able to tell you that Papa

is getting quite well and strong once more.

He had a very bad attack after I wrote

to you, occasioned, as we think, by the

fatigue of coming to the country long

before he was strong enough to bear the

journey, but now he is in the fair way of

complete convalescence, to which the good

air of Abbotsford and gentle exercise does

not a little contribute. You will be glad

to hear that Walter's commission is come

down, and that his name was in yester-

day's gazette as cornet in the 18th Light

Dragoons, now Hussars : he is too happy,

and the only thing that is to be feared is

his dying of pride and conceit before he

joins, as it is among the most dashing

regiments in the service. He has as yet

got no orders, but of course he must either

join or go to a military college; the 18th

is in Ireland. You may be sure we will

SCOTT LETTERS 59

miss him very much. Anne has had a

very bad cough for some time, but her

taking warm milk in the morning since

she came to the country, and change of

air has cured it almost completely. She

will write very soon. Abbotsford is look-

ing quite beautiful just now. Mamma is

gone to town for a few days to super-

intend the packing of the carts, and to

bring with her for the summer Walter,

and the rest of the servants : we expect

her upon Monday. How do you like

the New Tales of my Landlord?. Are

they not excellent? I would advise you

to read a new book which will be out

soon called Peter s Letters to Ms Kinsfolk,1

being a description of the society of

Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is one of the

most clever, and at the same time rather

1 Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk was written by Lockhart,

aided probably by one or more of the clever young advo-

cates who composed the Chaldee MS. Scott gives his

opinion of his future son-in-law's first book in a letter

written in acknowledgment of its receipt. (Lockhart,

vol. iii., pp. 303-4, chap, xlv.) Sophia probably knewwho its author was, and judged it favourably ; even morefavourably than the New Tales of my Landlord.

60 SCOTT LETTERS

severe books that has been written for

ages ; this is Papa's opinion. I hope that

you will excuse this sad scrawl, and that

the good news that it contains of Papa's

health will be its apology ; and with most

sincere good wishes from all here to your-

self, believe me to remain ever yours most

affectionately,

Charlotte Sophia Scott.

Abbotsford, 5th July 1819-

XAbbotsford, September 24, 1819-

My dear Miss Millar,—I had almost

made a vow that I would not write again

till I heard from you, but you have been

so long about it, that I can wait no longer.

Besides I have as great an event to relate

as Lady Margaret's dejeune at Tiltetude-

lum (Tillietudlem) : our poor house has

been honoured by a visit of his Royal

Highness Prince Leopold, 1 and I shall nowgive you the particulars in full.

1 The Prince was Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, after-

SCOTT LETTERS 61

Last Friday papa received a note from

the Magistrates of Selkirk saying that the

Prince was to pass through their town at

twelve o'clock, on his way to Carlisle,

where he was to sleep, and requesting

him, as Sheriff, to come up and receive

him. Accordingly all of us, with the addi-

tion of Mr. and Mrs. Skene,1 and Eliza

wards King of the Belgians. (Lockhart, vol. iii., pp. 323-5,

chap, xliv.)

1 The Skenes were the Skenes of Rubislaw. James Skene

became Scott's friend in 1796. They were drawn together

at first by their interest in German literature, and by other

common tastes, for both were antiquaries of different kinds

but equal enthusiasm, into an intimacy, of which writes

Skene, ' I shall ever think with so much pride of a friend-

ship so pure and cordial as to have been able to withstand

all the vicissitudes of nearly forty years, without ever

having sustained even a casual chill from unkind thought

or word.' (Lockhart, vol. i., p. 224, chap, viii.) The refer-

ences to him in the Life are numerous, and show that

Skene was Scott's dearest friend. In the Diary (Jan. 23,

1826) we can read words, perhaps not altogether just to

other friends who also stood by Scott in his disasters, but

just at least to ' the good Samaritan James Skene, the only

one among my numerous friends who can properly be

termed amicus curarum mearum, others being too busy or

too gay, and several being estranged by habit. ' Mrs. Skene,c a most excellent person and tenderly fond of Sophia,'

complied with his desire that 'she should carry him to

renew an acquaintance which seems to have been inter-

rupted from the period of his youthful romance.' She

told Lockhart that ' a very painful scene ensued' (vol. v.,

62 SCOTT LETTERS

Russell, 1set off in a body to receive his

Royal Highness. We met him a mile

beyond Selkirk, and when Papa said that

Melrose was well worth his Royal Highness

seeing, he replied, that nothing he regretted

so much as the arrangements for horses, etc.,

making it impossible for him to go so far

out of his route, but it would be impossible

for him to leave Scotland without seeing

Mr. Scott in his own house ; this, you

observe, being eight miles out of the way,

made it really a compliment. Figure the

dismay of the female part of our family

upon hearing this Royal resolve, not having

the least idea of his coming out of his

way to see us. We had left no orders at

home— time we had not an instant, as

his Royal Highness arrived at Abbotsford

the moment we did, but, wonderful to

p. 160, chap, lxxiv.), and she thought it 'highly probable

that it was on returning from this call that he committed

to writing the verses " To Time," by his early favourite,

which you have printed in your first volume' (vol. i.,

p. 211, chap. vii).

1 Eliza and Jane Russell were the grand-daughters of

Col. Russell of Ashestiel, who married Jane Rutherford, a

sister of Scott's mother.

SCOTT LETTERS 63

relate, for it really seemed like enchant-

ment, in about three-quarters of an hour,

we were able to place him, as the news-

papers express these things, to an elegant

collation. He was, or seemed to be, truly

pleased with everything, and said, on

departing, how happy he should be if Papa

would receive him, upon his return to

Scotland, for a longer visit, but, as he was

situated with regard to time, he would not

take any of the few moments he could

call his own from the pleasure of Mr.

Walter Scott's company, though it was

to see Melrose. He staid two hours with

us, and, even if he had not been a prince,

or had such an interesting and melancholy

history, he must have gained every person's

love by his unaffected and pleasant manners

—he is as like as possible his print. I

forget if I told you that Walter has joined

his regiment, the 18th Hussars, at Cork

:

he left us in July. We hear very often

from him, and he writes (what I should

not have expected, as he has had no prac-

tice) most capital letters. He has apart-

64 SCOTT LETTERS

merits at the Barracks, and writes a most

amusing account of his house keeping.

It is said that the regiment's next quarters

will be Dublin, so I do not think we will see

Walter for a couple of years : you may be

sure we miss him very very much. Charles

is still at home, and, I believe, is to

be at the High School in winter ; after-

wards Papa thinks of sending him to some

school abroad. Papa is in perfect health;

indeed I never saw him better, even in

his days of health : he has given Anne and

me the most beautiful new poney between

us ; it is a bright bay with a long black

tail that reaches the ground ; we call her

Queen Mab. You will be sorry to hear

that poor old Lady Wallace 1 died the

other day, to the distress of the whole

family. Poor Mrs. William Erskine 2 died

1 Lady Wallace was a pony. To the Scotts all their

'lower animals,' their dogs and horses at least, were on the

level of human beings, and treated as members of the

family. The last direction which Scott, when leaving

Abbotsford for Italy, gave Laidlaw, was to take care of the

dogs, and keep them separate should there be occasion for

quarrel.2 Mrs. William Erskine was the ' excellent wife' ofWilliam

SCOTT LETTERS 65

a fortnight ago in Cumberland, where they

had taken her for her health, which has

been declining for long : what a dreadful

loss she will be to her family. So Catherine

Hume 1is really married to Doctor ?

I think it is the very best thing she could

do, for he is a very good and a very sensible

young man, and most likely to put any

nonsense out of her head. We were very

anxious to be in town for the musical

festival, but I do not think we will be

able to make it out, but we will be in

Edinburgh for certain upon the 12th of

November. Miss Rutherford and Eliza

Russell have been staying nearly six weeks

with us ; they left us yesterday, and I amhappy to say that the former seemed a

good deal better for her visit. I believe

Erskine, afterwards Lord Kineddar : she died at Lowood on

Windermere. (Lockhart, vol. iii., pp. 321, 329, chap, xlv.)

Her husband was an intimate friend of Scott's, and his

' literary referee ' ; a trusted adviser, whose ' refined taste

and gentle manners rendered his critical alliance highly

valuable.' (Lockhart, vol. i., p. 378, chap, xiii.)

1 This young lady, who was to be improved by marriage,

was the sister of Agnes Hume {see Letters xx. and xxu.)

and of Joseph Hume {see Letter vn.).

E

66 SCOTT LETTERS

that there is some little change for the

better upon Jane Russell. All here join

me in best wishes and best love to you,

and believe me to remain yours truly

affectionately,

Charlotte Sophia Scott.

XI

My dear Miss Millar,—You will be

much shocked to hear of the severe family

losses we have met with in this last fort-

night—we have lost in that short space

of time our uncle and aunt (the Doctor

and Miss Rutherford) 1 and poor Grand-

mamma. 2

Grandmamma was seized about a fort-

1 Doctor Rutherford and Miss Christian Rutherford were

the brother and sister of Scott's mother, and therefore

grand-uncle and grand-aunt of Sophia. She uses the termse uncle' and c aunt ' with no real inaccuracy, or with the

inaccuracy only of affection, identifying her father and

herself. See Scott's letters to his brother, and to LadyLouisa Stewart, for an account of the losses in the year

(1819) of dear friends and relations, losses which had madehim 'bankrupt in Society.' (Lockhart, vol. iii., pp. 347-53,

chap, xlvi.)

2 Scott's mother, Anne Rutherford, was the eldest

daughter of Dr. John Rutherford, Professor of Medicine in

SCOTT LETTERS 67

night ago with palsy, and lingered for

about ten days, not suffering, but from

the University of Edinburgh, and grand-daughter of Sir

John Swinton of Swinton whose family ' for antiquity and

honourable alliances may rank with any in Britain.' Shetransmitted to her favourite son her pride in long descent,e a light and happy temper of mind, and a strong turn to

study poetry and works of imagination. She was sincerely

devout, but her religion was, as became her sex, of a cast

less austere than his father's.' It was tempered by ' a turn

for literature quite uncommon among the ladies of the

time.' Under her encouragement Scott, at the age of seven,

read aloud Shakespeare's plays and the Arabian Nights in

the family circle ; and even acted plays occasionally in the

dining-room after the lessons of the day were over, taking

among other parts that of the Duke of Gloucester in

Richard III., on the ground ' that the limp would do well

enough to represent the hump.' She was a great genea-

logist like all Scottish ladies of gentle birth, and like them,

or most of them, a Jacobite. She was fond of telling the

story of Murray of Broughton's teacup, which her husband

'tossed out upon the pavement.' Her husband, though of

sterner mould, resembled her in many ways. His face woref an expression of sweetness of temper which was not fal-

lacious ; his manners were rather formal, but full of genuine

kindness, especially when exercising the duties of hospi-

tality.' Like his son, in matters of business, he conducted

himself with the simplicity of Uncle Toby. He too, his

son suspects, ' when immured in his solitary room, and

supposed to be immersed in professional researches,' was

engaged, not with Tasso and Ariosto, but with authors of

works partly of fiction of another kind, Spottiswoode and

Knox. 'In political principles he was a steady friend to

freedom, with a bias, however, to the monarchical part of

our constitution,' no doubt a Jacobite whose ' feelings were

contrary to his opinions,' as were his son's about Mary

68 SCOTT LETTERS

the first deprived of speech and the use of

one side, so that we thought it a great

mercy when she was released, as it was too

evident she never could get round. Theday after she was taken ill her brother the

doctor was seeing her, to all appearance

in perfect health, but upon the following

morning, as he was waiting for the carriage,

he dropped down quite dead with gout in

the stomach. Of course his death was not

told to Miss Rutherford, or Grandmamma,and there was no occasion for it, as she

died the morning after. 1 think that

there is hardly another instance of two

sisters and a brother dying within a few

days of each other, and none of them

knowing of the others' death. Poor Miss

Russell 1 has been very ill, but we trust

that, now all is over, she will in time

recover. We heard from Walter the other

Queen of Scots. It is an interesting- and frequently debated

question, whether great men 'take after' their fathers or

their mothers ; Scott seems to have taken after both to

some degree, but most after his mother. (Lockhart, vol. i.,

chaps, i. and ii.)

1 See note 1, p. 62.

SCOTT LETTERS 69

day. He was quite well and very busy.

Of course all this will prevent Papa's going

to London till March, 1as he could not go

to Court in such deep mourning as he

must wear for his mother. Papa is going

along with Scott of Gala 2 to raise a corps of

sharp shooters at Abbotsford, and he finds

that, instead of only raising a couple of

hundred men, he could as easily raise twice

as many—in short he has at present a

military fever, I should rather say phrensy,

as he can talk of nothing else but his

corps.3

1 Scott went to London in March 1820, ' for the purpose of

receiving his baronetcy, which he had been prevented from

doing in the spring of the preceding year by his own illness,

and again at Christmas by accumulated family afflictions.'

(Lockhart, vol. iii., p. 371, chap, xlviii.)

2 John Scott of Gala, his kinsman and neighbour, whowent with him to see the field of Waterloo in 1815. (Lock-

hart, vol. iii., p. 4, chap, xxxv.) Major Scott met Scott

in London in 1831, when he was on his way to Naples, andhas recorded some pathetic reminiscences of the change in

his appearance, and of mental and physical decay.3 The political condition of the West of Scotland, then

alarming enough, though the danger was exaggerated by

ridiculous reports, excited in Scott the ' phrensy ' men-tioned here. He was ' a fighting man ' and a strong anti-

revolutionist ; as ready to meet the ' Radicals,' as he had

been ready to meet the French fifteen or twenty years

before, when ' Walter Scott was Paymaster, Quartermaster,

70 SCOTT LETTERS

I will write very soon, but am very busy

at this moment, and believe me to remain

most affectionately yours,

C. Sophia Scott.

39 Castle Street,

Wednesday , December 29, 1819-

Poor Grandmamma is buried to-day.

and Secretary of the Midlothian Yeomanry Cavalry Corps.

He'writes to his son Walter, in Decemher 1819, a humorousaccount of 'Master Charles, the only specimen of youthful

manhood at home, sleeping with an old broadsword hanging

up at his bed head, which, to be the more ready for service,

hath no sheath.' It was ready for service against the band

of Western Radicals who had ' a plan to seize on a thousand

stand of arms, as well as a depot of ammunition in Edin-

burgh Castle,' and against the fifty thousand pitmen and

colliers of Northumberland, who were reported to be ready

to join the Glasgow rebels. It is easy for us, after the

event, to laugh at these alarms ; but those who remembered

the French Revolution, distant from them only a quarter

of a century, may be excused for feeling some anxiety.

Distress and discontent prevailed not in Glasgow only, but

in London, Birmingham, and Manchester. It was not

known, at least to the Tories of those days, that there were

other methods of meeting nascent revolution than f a whiff

of grape shot.' A passage may here be quoted which throws

light on the characters of Lady Scott and her two daughters.

'Anne is so much afraid of the disaffected that last night,

returning with Sophia from Portobello, where they had

been dancing with the Scotts of Harden, she saw a Radical

in every man that the carriage passed. Sophia is of course

wise and philosophical, and Mamma has not yet been able

SCOTT LETTERS 71

XII

My dear Miss Millar,— I received

your kind letter, and you see am not very

long in answering it, although I have little

or nothing to write about, having been

living very very quiet. I am quite

ashamed to say, in answer to your en-

quiries concerning my Italian studies,

that at present they are quite at a stop,

and, although with the new year I made

the customary good resolutions, still the

new leaf remains to turn ; whenever that

great event takes place I will let you

know ; in the mean time you must let

me know how you come on, and if you

find it easy. We heard from Walter the

other day ; he was well, and hoped to meet

Papa in London upon the 12th of March,

and to come down here along with him to

pay us a visit : you may be sure how happy

we are at the thoughts of seeing him again

among us. There has been new views

to conceive why we do not catch and hang the whole of

them untried and unconvicted. (Lockhart, vol. iii., p. 341,

chap, xlvi.)

72 SCOTT LETTERS

with regard to Charles, which I think

will give you pain, as it has done me.

Papa has got the offer of a writership in

India for him, 1 which is the sure way of

making money, as the moment they touch

Indian Shore they get 5 hundred a year,

and, if they are at all industrious, maymake any money. Such an offer as this

Papa does not think his duty to refuse,

more especially as Charles, though ex-

tremely clever, is also extremely idle, and

it would be quite out of the question to

expect he would turn out a good lawyer

in this town, with so many opportunities of

seeing and being in company, and so little

taste for studying to the purpose. How-ever, if he does go, it will not be for three

years, and many things may happen before

that passes over ; besides, with the recom-

mendations he can get, if he is in the

least industrious, he may come home in

1 'Through the kindness of Mr. Croker, Scott received

from the late Earl Bathurst, then Colonial Secretary of

State, the offer of an appointment in the Civil Service of

the East India Company for his second son. (Lockhart,

vol. iii., p. 361, chap, xlvii.)

SCOTT LETTERS 78

two years with a very handsome fortune,

whereas at the bar many a lawyer is only

beginning after that space of time to be

making 2 hundred a year, and that with

much toil. I must say that it needs manymany good reasons to make one consent

to parting with a brother for so long a

time. You will be very very sorry to hear

that poor Eliza Russell is no more ; she

died yesterday morning of a sort of nervous

low fever, brought on at first from exces-

sive fatigue in attending her aunt. I do

not think it possible that Anne and Jane

will survive many weeks, or even days,

they are both in such a state, Jane de-

prived of speech and the use of her limbs,

and Anne lying almost quite [helpless] l

from fatigue and anxiety.

I hope that you will write soon, and

believe me to remain yours most affec-

tionately,

Charlotte Sophia Scott.

39 Castle Street,

Friday, January 21, 1820.

1 Blank in the original.

74 SCOTT LETTERS

XIII

My dear Miss Millar,—I received

your kind letter two evenings since,1 and

answer it thus soon, as I wish to be the

first to tell you that I have at last madeup my mind to marry Mr. Lockhart, and

I know how sincerely you interest yourself

in anything that may happen to me, and

how affectionate your wishes are for myhappiness. Anything that I may say to

prepossess you in his favour, in the present

state of my feelings towards him, might

appear to you overdrawn, but Papa has the

highest opinion of him, and his opinion is

worth all the world to me. That I might

have made a much higher marriage in point

of rank and wealth I have little doubt, but

I am not one who can be persuaded that

1 This letter is not dated. It must have been written

soon after the middle of February 1820, when, as Lockhart

writes (vol. iii., p. 302, chap, xlvii.), ' it was arranged that I

should marry his (Scott's) daughter in the course of the

spring.' The marriage took place in Castle Street on

April 29, 1820, 'more Scotico in the evening.' It would

be impertinent to oiFer any comments on this letter, beyond

the remark that it shows Sophia's affection for her old

governess.

SCOTT LETTERS 75

happiness can depend upon these two

alone. I hope that you will be in town

sometime soon, that I might introduce

you to Lockhart, as I am sure, at least I

hope, that you will like him. Papa goes

to London in March, and expects to be

down before the end of April, and to

bring Walter with him. I am very sorry

to hear that Miss Tovey is so unwell, but

would fain hope that the fine weather

coming in may be of service to her. Poor

Miss Russell is rather better, but still in a

deplorable state of health. Miss Anne is a

little stronger : if they could but get well

enough to be removed to some other house,

it would be a great step towards their re-

covery, as everything puts them in mind of

the friends they have lost.

Papa and Mamma, Anne and Charles,

join me in best love to you, and believe

me, my dear Miss Millar, ever to remain

yours most affectionately,

Charlotte Sophia Scott.

39 Castle Street,

Siinday morning.

76 SCOTT LETTERS

XIVMay 1820 (P). 1

My dear Miss Millar,—Mr. Lockhart

and myself have arrived this momenthere to remain all night, and I could not

possibly pass through Stirling without

making an attempt to see you. Wouldyou then, when you receive this, put on

your hat and come to the inn and see me.

I remain, dear Miss Millar, your affec-

tionate friend and pupil,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

Wednesday evening.

XVAbbotsford,

4> November. 2

My dear Miss Millar,—Papa has had

a letter from Mrs. Eolton, who seems to

1 This letter also is undated ; it may have been written

soon after Sophia's marriage. She is still Miss Millar's

pupil ; but any inference as to date is doubtful, for five

years later Mrs. Lockhart is still Miss Millar's pupil. (Sec

Letter xxi.)2 Between the dates of this and of the thirteenth letter

many things had happened. Scott had become f Sir Walter.'f The baronetcy was conferred on him, not in consequence

SCOTT LETTERS 77

be quite uncertain whether you accepted

her proposal or not, so Papa thinks you

had better let Mrs. Bolton know by writing

to her yourself. Charles left us some

weeks ago to a school in South Wales.

Mr. Williams 1is the name of his master; he

of any ministerial suggestion, but by the King personally,

and of his own unsolicited motion, and when the poet kissed

his hand, he said to him, " I shall always reflect with pleasure

on Sir Walter Scott's having been the first creation of myreign.'" After his baronetcy was gazetted on April 2nd

he hurried home, for he was anxious to have his daughter

married before the unlucky month ofMay began. (Lockhart,

vol. iii., pp. 370-8, chap, xlvii.) Soon after his daughter's

marriage he received from Oxford and from Cambridge the

offer of the honorary degree of Doctor in Civil Law, anoffer which, to his regret, he was not then, nor afterwards,

able to accept. He perhaps, as well as Lady Scott, was'quite tired of people' before the end of that hospitable

summer and autumn, though the genial host concealed

his weariness.

This is the first of Anne Scott's letters published in

this collection, and shows that ' spirit of satire ' which,

five years later, her father affected to deplore in the

'honest downright good Scots lass.' She was now nearly

eighteen, an age at which clever girls find their tongues,

and use them freely. Who Miss Ramsay was I have not

inquired : the epithet applied to her may have been con-

tributed by Walter, but the gloss is likely to have beenAnne's.

1 Mr. Williams, Vicar of Lampeter and Archdeacon, wasfour years later appointed Rector of the EdinburghAcademy. He had been Lockhart's intimate friend andcompanion at Oxford. (Vol. iii., p. 420, chap. 1.)

78 SCOTT LETTERS

is strongly recommended by Lockhart and

Mr. (?). I was very sorry to part

with him, but it will be of so much con-

sequence to himself to be from home, that

it would be wrong to wish for him to

remain. Sophia and Lockhart spent six

weeks here this summer; she went to

Edinburgh a short time ago, in which part

of the world we will see her soon, as weleave this in a few days. Lord and Lady

Compton left us yesterday ; also the Miss

Baillies. I like Miss Joana Baillie ex-

tremely ; no one would ever guess by her

behaviour that she was an authoress. Sir

Alexander Don and a great pack of people

come here to-day ; Mamma is quite tired

of people, as we have never been alone all

the summer. Mr. and Mrs. Skene have

gone abroad for a year or two. Miss Skene 1

paid us a visit this summer and is still the

1 Miss Skene was the daughter of James Skene of

Rubislaw. She lived at Oxford for the last thirty years of

her long life, and was known there for her good works.

She was a Scots lady of the highest type, combining kindli-

ness with shrewdness, the terror of impostors, and a wise

helper of all who deserved help.

SCOTT LETTERS 79

same. We had a letter from Walter the

other day ; he is quite well and very gay

in Dublin, as he has got in the first set.

He saw Miss Ramsay, still, though very

much against her will, a blooming Virgin.

I must now conclude my epistle : I hope

you will write to me soon. Papa and

Mamma unite in best love, and believe meto remain yours affectionately,

Anne Scott.

P.S.—Direct to Mrs. Bolton, East India

College, Hertford.

1820.

XVI

49 (Great) King Street (Edinburgh),

Monday morning, March 26, 1821.

My dear Miss Millar,—I am afraid

you must have thought me very unkind

never to have answered your kind letter of

enquiry that I received so very long ago,

but you will cease to be angry when I tell

you that this is only the second time I

80 SCOTT LETTERS

have taken up the pen since I was confined,

and for two months before. In spite of all

my bad health before, I think you would

say that my little boy 1is as pretty a baby as

you ever saw, and, what is still better, he is

very healthy. Papa has not returned from

London where he went to see my aunt

Carpenter, who wished much to return to

1 The little boy was John Hugh Lockhart, the ' HughLittlejohn' of the Tales of a Grandfather. There are few, if

any, passages in Sir Walter's Diary more pathetic than

those in which he writes of his sorrow for the sufferings and

approaching death of his beloved grandson, whose health

began to fail in 1825, and who died in 1831. 'The poor

child's voice,' Sir Walter writes, ' was day and night in his

ear.' He speaks of him as ' a child almost too good for this

world ; beautiful in features, and, though spoiled by every

one, having one of the sweetest tempers, aswellasthequickest

intellect, I ever saw ; a sense of humour quite extraordinary

in a child ; and, owing to the general notice which was

taken of him, a great deal more information than suited his

hours.' Johnnie must have reminded him of another gifted

and short-lived child, whom, years before, he used to carry

to and from Castle Street in his plaid, f Pet Marjorie,'

authoress of an inimitable poem on a domestic tragedy. Tohis affection for Hugh Littlejohn we owe a history which

may not be scientific, and might have been condemned by

Lord Acton, had he criticised it, along with Carlyle's French

Revolution, and Froude's and Macaulay's histories. Sir

Walter would have been ' justified' in good company; but,

if called up for judgment, he would probably have been

pardoned, as a grandfather. (Lockhart, vol. iv., p. 487,

chap, lxx.)

SCOTT LETTERS 81

Scotland with him, but she is in such

indifferent health that Dr. Baillie will not

hear of her moving till summer, and Papa

is to be with us about the beginning of

next month. We are very anxious for his

arrival, as the baby is not to be christened

till he comes. I hope that we are to see

you sometime soon in Edinburgh ; is there

any chance of it ? After Papa has been

here, and as soon as I am strong enough,

Lockhart, myself, and the baby, are going

to Germiston for a fortnight, but must be

back at the terrible moving time, as wehave bought a most capital house from

top to bottom in Northumberland Street.

Charles is quite well, and likes his master

very much. Walter is still in Ireland, and

at present has the command of a small

detachment at Cappoquin in the county of

Waterford. Lockhart joins me in best

wishes to you, and believe me, dear Miss

Millar, to remain very affectionately yours,

Charlotte Sophia Lockhart.

82 SCOTT LETTERS

XVII

Chiefswood, 1 Melrose,

Sunday.

My dear Miss Millar,—I am truly

sorry to hear you have been so very un-

comfortable with Mrs. Eules, but, as it was

the case, I think you did quite right in

leaving her as soon as possible, and wemust hope for better luck another time. I

think you should write to ask your friends

to enquire for you, and Mrs. Ross 2 amongst

the rest, as she is very likely to hear of

1 Chiefswood was a cottage near Melrose, where Lockhart

and his wife took up their residence in the summer of 1821

;

the first of several seasons which they remembered as the

happiest in their lives. It was within easy reach of Abbots-

ford, and Sir Walter used to stay there while he superin-

tended the completion of the stately house which was to

take the place of the farm-house which stood ' on the scene

of Kerr of Cessford's slaughter.' (Lockhart, vol. ii., p. 176,

chap, xxiii.)

2 Mrs. Ross was the Catherine Hume of Letter x. ; nowmuch improved with ' all nonsense put out of her head

'

by the ' sensible young man' whom she had married. Dr.

and Mrs. Ross visited Sir Walter a few weeks before his

death. With some difficulty he recognised the doctor, but

on hearing Mrs. Ross's voice exclaimed at once ' Isn't that

Kate Hume?' (Lockhart, vol. v., p. 425, chap, lxxxiii.)

SCOTT LETTERS 83

something that may suit, and you have not

a more sincere friend. I will write to her

soon myself, and will mention you in it, but

1 think you should write yourself. The

Humes have gone a little tour to England,

but will be home soon. Mrs. Ross is to be

quite stationary in George Street this sum-

mer, and herself and little girl are quite

well and strong; indeed I never saw her

looking better. I wish much you had been

in Edinburgh during the King's visit,1

as,

independent of the feeling that the old

Halls at Holyrood were lighted up again

after a lapse of so many years, the two

processions were quite magnificent, and

1 The King came to Edinburgh on August 15, 1822. TheCardinal of York was dead, and the stoutest Jacobites

transferred their allegiance from the Stuarts to the House of

Hanover ; some of them reluctantly, for the only memberof that house who had touched the soil of Scotland, was e the

cruel conqueror of Culloden, the "butcher" Cumberland.'

Sir Walter held that George iv. acquired a title to the

Throne, de jure, on the death of the last descendant of

James vn. of Scotland ; and welcomed his King with an

enthusiasm which has provoked both sneers and laughter.

For a defence of his loyalty to one who was in part a Stuart,

see Lockhart, chaps, lxvi. and lxxxiv. Sir Walter laughed

himself at the fate of the glass out of which his Majesty haddrunk his health.

84 SCOTT LETTERS

all conducted with such order. We met,

though every part of the streets were

crowded to excess, and, what appeared

very remarkable, every person well dressed. 1

The King said to Papa that 'Never King

was better received by his people, and

never King felt it more.' He said he never

was so happy in his life, and goes back with

a very grand idea of his Scottish subjects.

He wrote a letter to Papa expressing howvery much he was pleased, and thanking

him in the most handsome manner for the

trouble he had taken.

Brother Walter did not come home, as

there was not time for him, but Charles

was so fortunate as to be down for the

holidays, and remained during the whole

fun ; he and cousin Walter acted the part

of pages to Sir Alex. Keith in the two

processions, and performed their parts to

admiration. Charles is grown very tall, and

looked quite beautiful in his page's dress.

We came out here four days ago, and

1 The reader may interpret and amend this obscure

passage as he pleases.

SCOTT LETTERS 85

remain till the 12th of November. All

this gaiety has cut up our summer very

much. Papa and Mamma only came to

Abbotsford the day before yesterday. The

new house at Abbotsford is up to the top

story and really is quite a palace.

Baby is quite well, and walks quite

stoutly now. Let me hear from you very

soon, and, if I can do anything to forward

your views, let me know. I shall be upon

the look out, but have a bad chance of

hearing anything suitable here. With

most affectionate love, believe me to

remain very affectionately yours,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

September 3, 1822.

XVIII

Abbotsford,

Monday, 8ih September 1823. 1

My dear Miss Millar,—Many thanks

to you for your letter ; it gave us all great

1 This letter was written soon after ' one of the happiest

months of Scott's life' and of his family's. Anne, now

86 SCOTT LETTERS

pleasure to know that you were so com-

fortable with your friend Mrs. Bathurst.

We have had a great many people staying

here this summer, and amongst others the

Miss Edgeworths. I like Miss E. very

much, though she talks a great deal, and

does not care to hear others talk. There

was a dreadful scene at parting.1 The great

Maria nearly went into fits ; she had taken

such a fancy to us all. Her sisters were

very nice girls, both clever, and one very

pretty. There is here at present a gentle-

man who has been farther in Greece than

any Englishman has been known to go,

and has been present at the dread

-

nearly twenty, is full of girlish fun and paiadox. Herutterances explain themselves. She had, by this time,

considerable experience of the world and of society of

various kinds ; far more at least than is usually within

the reach of girls of her age ; and was a keen observer,

humorous and malicious in the French, but not in the

English sense, as her later letters show.1 Miss Edgeworth ' never saw Abbotsford again during

his (Sir Walter's) life.' In Lockhart (vol. iii., pp. 120-35,

chap. lix. ) there is a description of Miss Edgeworth's visit, and

of one paid by 'another honoured and welcome guest,' Mr.

J. L. Adolphus, which gives a charming picture of Sir

Walter and his family at this happy time. Anne's letter

adds something to the picture of the ' great Maria.'

SCOTT LETTERS 87

ful massacres of the Greeks, and saw a

hundred of the most beautiful Turkish

women drowned. A most blessed country

to live in. This happy man was also a

long time a prisoner of the Arabs.

We had a very happy family party for a

month this summer, as both my brothers

and my cousin * were here, and the Lock-

harts, but I am sorry to say that they

have now all gone. Walter to Sandhurst,

Charles to Wales, and my cousin to Addis-

combe. I do not think you would knowCharles ; he has grown so tall, and is really

like what he is so ambitious to be, a man.

Him and his dear friend, William Surtees,2

left us about a week ago. Walter has had

another return of ague, but is now quite

well, and likes Sandhurst very much in-

1 Walter, son of Thomas Scott, third brother of Sir

Walter. Thomas Scott was once thought to be the author

of Waverley. He was f a man of infinite humour and excel-

lent parts,' but could not have written Waverley. ' (Lockhart,

vol. i., p. 10, chap, i., and vol. iii., pp. 386-90, chap, xlviii.)

2 William Surtees, a school-fellow of Charles Scott's at

Lampeter and his chief friend at Oxford, son of Sui'tees of

Mainsforth, a learned antiquarian and an early and dear

friend of Sir Walter's. (Lockhart, vol. iii., p. 520, chap, liv.,

and vol. ii., p. 120, chap, xx.)

88 SCOTT LETTERS

deed. I suppose Mrs. Bathurst's son is

also in the senior department. Lockhart

and Sophia are quite well, and as for little

Johnny, he has grown so stout and so

healthy, ever since he has got all his teeth.

He was very very ill in the early part of

the summer ; indeed we were very muchalarmed about him, so you may think what

pleasure it gives us to see him so muchimproved in health. Johnny is in a fair

way to be spoilt. Were you not very sorry

to hear of poor John Macdonald's death ?x

There is only one son left, who is in very

bad health ; so you may think what great

distress the poor Macdonalds are in ; be-

sides, poor John was such a favourite with

all his family. We had all the Buccleuch

family here the other day, and Lady

Todella's 2 intended bridegroom, the Hon.

Capt. Cust. I must own I was a little

1 Possibly a son of the Laird of Staffa, whom Sir Walter

visited in 1810, on his first voyage to the Hebrides.

(Lockhart, vol. ii., p. 133, chap, xxi.)

2 ( Lady Todella/ a charming name, due to my copyist,

was Lady Isabella, as Mrs. Maxwell-Scott informs me. I

have had the name thus printed, as being very creditable to

its author.

SCOTT LETTERS 89

surprised when I first saw him, as he is

oldish, very plain, and looks as if he could

be woss. The young Duke has grown

much taller and stronger; he is really a

very delightful young man. As for Lady

Anne, she has grown quite a beauty. Anew set of teeth has improved her to such

a degree that Miss Russel finds herself a

good deal better. She is at Lucia just

now. One of the old Miss Fraser Tytlers

has married a cousin of her own. They

will be very poor, but it is all they have, as

they have been engaged for eleven years.

I wonder they did not change their

minds. I am sure I would, particularly if

I was the gentleman. Now I must really

stop.1 Papa and Mamma beg to be kindly

remembered to you, and believe me, mydear Miss Millar, to remain yours affec-

tionately,

Anne Scott.

I am sorry I have no news for you, but

I am afraid that I must invent, if I was to

1 Ves, indeed.

90 SCOTT LETTERS

attempt to tell any news. Except, by the

bye, that Abbotsford is lighted with Gas.

You can have no idea how beautiful it

looks ; but the first time that Mrs. Bathurst

goes to Scotland you must come and spend

some time here, and you will see Abbots-

ford much changed. We have got into the

new drawing-room, and also into some of

the bedrooms. I must now conclude. I

am afraid that you will not be able to read

this, as I write it in such haste. I hope

you will write soon, and tell us how you

are coming on. Sophia intends writing to

you very soon. I gave her your letter, you

will be happy to hear.

XIXAbbotsford,

March 10, 1824.

My dear Miss Millar,—I am quite

ashamed when I think of the time that has

elapsed since I have received your letter,

particularly as Sophia wished me to return

SCOTT LETTERS 91

you her very best thanks for the cap you

were so good as to send her, and, though

she has been so unfortunate as to lose the

poor little baby it was intended for, yet

nevertheless she is very sensible of your

kindness in thinking of her. I am sure

you will be happy to hear that she is nowquite well, and has recovered both her

health and spirits. Lockhart goes to

London immediately, and Sophia and

Johnny are to come here. Poor little

Johnny has been very ill all winter, but is

now a great deal better, and the medical

people have now no fear for him, though

very great care will be required for a long

time before he regains his strength. Walter

was with us for six weeks at Christmas,

and Charles has just come down from

Oxford, where he has been entering his

name. 1 He remains with us till October,

when he returns to Oxford. Papa finds

Walter much improved in his studies, and

is quite delighted with him. I think you

would find him much changed, as he has

1 At Brasenose College.

92 SCOTT LETTERS

grown very tall and stout. Edinburgh has

been very gay. I went out a great deal.

We had a very gay ball given by thirty

Bachelors : it was a Fancy one, and a great

many people went in character ; I however

did not. Charles Sharpe 1 was admirable;

he went as his Grandfather, and Lord

Castlereagh as a Caucasian. By the bye,

Lord Castlereagh is a person that all Edin-

burgh is running after just now. He has

spent the winter there by way of attending

the classes, or rather the balls, and as he is

very handsome, very good-humoured, and

very fond of dancing and flirting, you maythink that he is a great favourite. Mrs.

Ross is quite well, and has recovered her

fit of goodness, and as for Agnes, the last

time I saw her she was in blue satin with a

silver flower in her hair, and had even some

thoughts of going to the Bachelors' Ball.

Is Mrs. Bathurst gone to Bath? I amafraid that you will find it dull at North

1 Charles Kirpatrick Sharpe, the wit, antiquary, artist,

'minor' poet, and man of fashion, whom Sir Walter de-

scribes in his Diary, November 20, 1825. (Lockhart, vol. iv.,

pp. 351-2, chap, lxv.) He was a Scottish Horace Walpole.

SCOTT LETTERS 93

Creek, particularly as you say the neigh-

bourhood is disagreeable, for, though the

country is very delightful in summer, yet

in winter it is very sombre, unless one has

society. However, I am quite glad to get

out here, as I am quite tired of dissipa-

tion ; besides, I have really been far from

well 1this winter with constant colds, and,

what is more wearing out than anything,

constant toothache. I do not know if I

told you that my aunt, Mrs. Thomas Scott,

and my cousins have been in Scotland for

six months. They have been of course a

great deal at Abbotsford, and I like mycousins very much. Anne, the eldest, is not

handsome, but what one would call very

comely ; she is a very sensible and well-in-

formed girl. Eliza 2is a very nice little

girl, and will, I think, be very pretty. As1 Alas ! her health was failing, though she was still

bright and cheerful.2 About this cousin Eliza, Mrs. Maxwell-Scott writes :

' My cousin, Baroness von Appell (grand-daughter of Sir

Walter's brother Thomas), will be one of those most in-

terested in these letters. Her mother was the Eliza men-tioned by my great-aunt Anne in one letter, and was a most

clever and delightful old lady, whose reading aloud of

Emma is one of the remembrances of my girlhood.'

94 SCOTT LETTERS

for Mrs. Thomas Scott, she has been every-

thing that is kind and agreeable, but heaven

knows how long it will last. I have no

news for you, neither Births or marriages.

We are very busy painting the house just

now, and Papa will soon have the pleasure

of removing the Books to the new Library.

The Pringles of Haining and Yair * are all

flourishing, and so are all the Fergusons.

I must now conclude. Papa and Mammadesire to be kindly remembered to you,

and believe me to remain, my dear Miss

Millar, yours affectionately,

A. Scott.

XXWednesday, 23rd November 1824,

Castle Street.

My dear Miss Millar,—Many thanks

to you for your letter. I should have

written to you before this, but I very

1 Yair lay a few miles down the Tweed from Ashestiel.

The Pringles were intimate friends of the Scotts.

SCOTT LETTERS 95

foolishly lost your address. We have

been here for rather more than a week, and

I think I never saw Papa and Mamma in

better health than they are at present.

Sophia, I am sorry to say, had an attack

of inflammation about two months ago,

and, though she is quite well, yet it has

left her thin, and apt to catch cold on the

least change of weather ; however, I trust

that with great care she will soon be quite

well. As for Johnny, he is as well as

possible, and has not had for many months

those alarming attacks of fever which he

was so subject to, and he is, I assure you, a

great beauty, 1 and as great a wit. Hemakes Lockhart very idle, for he does

nothing but play with him all day, and

teach him all sort of absurd speeches.

Charles is at Oxford, very important as

you may suppose, as this is his first term.

He says he likes Oxford very much.

Walter's examination takes place at Sand-

hurst next month. He comes down here

immediately after, but whether he is to

1 Sec note on p. 80.

96 SCOTT LETTERS

get a troop in his Regiment, or to go as

Aid de Camp to Sir Frederick Adam, I

do not know, as he cannot make up his

mind which is best. Papa has gone to-day

to attend poor Mrs. Rutherford's funeral,

who died very suddenly last week. 1 She

made herself very unhappy the last few

years by her very peevish, unhappy,

temper. I should think it must be rather

a relief than otherwise, her death to her

daughters. What a dreadful fire has been

in Edinburgh, but I suppose you have

read it all in the newspapers. Lockhart

was out a day and night with the yeo-

manry, and though he kept his spirits up by

pouring spirits down, he was very ill after-

wards from fatigue. It must have been an

awful sight, the burning of the Church.

The people here insist that it was all owing

to Dr. Brunton having subscribed to the

Musical Festival. 2 There has been the

1 Anne's grand-aunt.2 Dr. Brunton, it was thought, had brought on himself a

'judgment' for having subscribed to so questionable an

amusement as a musical festival. The old abhorrence of

sports and pleasures, described in Old Mortality, was not

SCOTT LETTERS 97

most magnificent subscriptions here for

the poor people who have been burnt out,

so that they will be richer for their burn-

ing. I am sorry to hear that you do not

like the part of the country you are in, and

also that you find it necessary to change

your situation. I hope you will come to

Scotland before you fix yourself in another.

I think you will find a great change in

Abbotsford. The library and drawing-

room are now finished and furnished, and

are both magnificent. The entrance Hall

is very large, and fitted up with armour

and painted glass. It really is very strik-

ing. We had a very great many people

here this last summer. Lady Comptonand her children spent some weeks with

us. She is, if possible, improved in her

musical studies since her residence abroad,

but we have had an immense deal of good

music this last year, and have got such a

magnificent piano, which stands in the

extinct, though waning, in the Edinburgh of eighty years

ago. Compare 'Jupiter' Carlyle's account of the con-

demnation pronounced by the ' strict party ' on another' Moderate ' clergyman, the author of Douglas.

G

98 SCOTT LETTERS

library, which is a most admirable music-

room. I saw the Humes yesterday look-

ing remarkably well. Agnes is no longer

holy and wears a white silk bonnet. As for

Mrs. Ross, she has had so many children

she really has not time to be good. Edin-

burgh is very dull just now. There is

nothing going on. I shall be glad when

Christmas comes, when we go to Abbots-

ford, and are to be very gay and have a

large party in the house. 1

The Lockharts are to be with us, and

my aunt and cousins, Mrs. Thomas Scott's

family. They really are very nice girls,

and one of them is very pretty, and I

think that our good friends, the Miss

Russells, helped to make up stories of

Mrs. Thomas Scott, who appears to me to

be a very agreeable good-natured person. 2I

am afraid that you will not be able to read

this horrid scrawl. I write in great haste,

as I am engaged to spend a quiet day

1 For an account given by Captain Basil Hall of this

Christmas party, see Lockhart, vol. iv., pp. 192-232, chap. lxi.

2 The fears shown in Letter xix. as to the duration of Mrs.

Scott's kindness and good nature had been proved groundless.

SCOTT LETTERS 99

with Lady Alvanley 1 and her daughters,"

who have just come to town, and I wish

not to lose a day's post. Sophia means to

write to you very soon. I hope you will

not be long in writing, and tell us if you

have settled any plan for the future.

Papa and Mamma desire to be kindly

remembered to you, and believe me, mydear Miss Millar, to remain yours very

sincerely,

Anne Scott.

XXI

My dear Miss Millar,— You must

excuse these very few lines, as I have so

very much to write just now, but I wish to

be the very first to inform you of brother

Walter's approaching marriage with a

niece of Lady Ferguson, Miss Jobson of

1 Lady Alvanley, wife of the statesman and the wit. She

died a few weeks later than the date of this letter. Thearrangements for her funeral devolved on Sir Walter. She

was buried in the Chapel of Holyrood, the service being

performed by Mr. (afterwards Dean) Ramsay, who read the

service also at the funeral of Lady Scott. (Lockhart, vol. iv.,

p. 510, chap, lxx.)

100 SCOTT LETTERS

Lochore in Fife.1 The young lady is

everything we could wish for, very pretty,

sensible, and has about two thousand a

year, no bad thing for a young soldier.

Papa and Mamma are quite delighted at

the match, and one of them would have

written, but they are so busy they have

time for nothing. The marriage takes

place almost immediately, on account of

Walter's leave of absence being very

limited, and they leave this for Cork,

where Walter's regiment is stationed at

present. I will write whenever the cere-

mony is over more fully, but have only

now time to say we are all well and happy,

and remain your very affectionate pupil,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

25 North Street, Edinburgh,

ZQth January 1825.

1 f The pretty heiress of Lochore.' The marriage was

arranged at the Christmas party mentioned in the last

letter. See Lockhart, vol. iv., p. 233, chap, lxii., and later,

in the same chapter, Sir Walter's affectionate and humorous

letters to his new daughter.

SCOTT LETTERS 101

XXII

Abbotsford,

Monday morning, April 10, 1825.

My dear Miss Millar,—Many thanks

to you for your letter. I have not forgot

your request of getting letters from Papa,

and I told him of it, but he says that he is

afraid that his acquaintances in London

are not of the sort that would do you any

good ; and except a very good-natured,

clever Welsh lady, whose husband is high

in the Church, he knows of no other. But

pray write when the time comes that you

wish for the letters, and perhaps he will be

able to think of some other ladies.

Papa, Mamma, and I have been living

for about a month here very quietly. Wehave the most beautiful weather that ever

was seen. It is quite summer, and there

is large plots of hyacinths and jonquils in

full blow before the door. We are not

a little anxious to hear of Walter and his

bride's arrival in Ireland, but I daresay that

SL0'"

102 SCOTT LETTERS

letters have been lost. I have scarcely

seen my new sister, but by all accounts

she is very amiable and appears very happy.

We had a letter from Charles, who is

staying at Stowe at the Duke of Bucking-

ham's. How he has got there heaven

knows. His letter was full of what the

Duke said to him and what he said to the

' Duke. My cousin Walter is at Chatham,

and gives Papa much satisfaction with the

manner he has gone on with his studies.

Mrs. Scott has gone with her two

daughters to Cheltenham, to live for some

time with a brother of hers. You will be

surprised to hear that the Miss Russells

are really coming to live at Ashestiel.

Colonel Russell, they say, is on his wayhome by land, and is to meet them in

Italy. I can scarcely believe that he is

so near home, for he has so often disap-

pointed them. I went to see poor Mrs.

Charles Erskine 1 to-day, and found her

very ill. I never saw a person so altered

1 The wife of Charles Erskine, Sheriff-Substitute of

Selkirkshire.

SCOTT LETTERS 103

as she is by grief, and the widow's dress

makes her look even worse. She will

not suffer in her income by her husband's

death, for he died very rich. Your friends

the Humes are quite well. Agnes is no

longer good. 1 She dresses in white satin,

and goes to Balls, and as for Mrs. Ross,

she is so occupied with her children and

her own very indifferent health, that she

scarcely goes to church once a Sunday.

Our old friend and sinner, Miss Skene, is

just the same. She is looking about for a

companion to go to Paris with, and from

thence to Italy, to bask for some time

under an Italian sky. I am sorry I have

no news for you, not even my marriage,

which, I am told, is fixed for next week,

to a very rich Mr. Henderson, who has

bought Eldon Hall ; and now, as I have

not even seen the bridegroom, it is a

little hard to have so foolish a report sent

about. Even Papa is not believed when

1 This is the third criticism of the Humes and their

backsliding^. Did Anne and Sophia like them ? Thegood Miss Skene also, it is hinted, was not impeccable.

104 SCOTT LETTERS

he denies it, for he is always told that if

I do not marry Mr. Henderson, I must

marry Major Norman Pringle, whom weused to call the elegant major long ago.

Talking of elegant people, we have Sir

Alex. Don,1 a pattern of Domestic happiness.

His wife is just going to be confined, and

he stays always at home to take care of

her. We had a most beautiful Fancy Ball

a few weeks ago in Edinburgh, where I

appeared in a most beautiful Spanish dress.

I was so fortunate as to be intimate with

a Spanish lady, who gave me one of her

dresses to have one made by. It was very

magnificent, black and gold, with a long

black veil. My friend, the Donna, was

quite pleased with my appearance in it.

1 Sir Alexander Don of Newtown (Letter xv.) was a manof fashion much connected with the turf, and somewhat of

a spendthrift. Sir Walter lived in ' much friendship with

him,' despite their different habits, for his manners were

extremely pleasing, and he had a taste for literature and

the fine arts

—

f a most accomplished gentleman.' His

indolence prevented him from turning his real abilities

' towards acquiring the distinction he might have attained.'

(Lockhart, vol. iv., p. 498, chap, lxx.) He was the father of

an actor of some distinction known in London more than

forty years ago.

SCOTT LETTERS 105

Lockhart and Sophia are in Edinburgh,

and there is no chance of our seeing them

till May, when we return to town to

remain till July, when Papa talks of going

to Ireland for a few weeks, where I shall

certainly go with him. I must now conclude

this horrid scrawl. I depend on your

writing and letting me know when you

wish for letters. Is there any chance of

your coming to Scotland this summer?

You will find us in high order, and amidst

other improvements, we have got a most

admirable Pianoforte. Papa and Mammadesire to be kindly remembered to you,

and believe me, my dear Miss Millar, to

remain yours affectionately,

A. Scott.

XXIII

25 North Street, Edinburgh,

April 24, 1825.

My dear Miss Millar,—I would have

written long since to you, but have been

106 SCOTT LETTERS

prevented first by being unwell myself

with an attack which, when it comes on,

makes me unfit for anything ; and, lastly,

my poor little Johnny has been very unwell

for a fortnight with fever and cough. The

cough was so violent that the doctor was

suspicious that itwas Hooping-cough,which

we had flattered ourselves he had had over,

but, as within these four days it has left

him, we think it had been only the Influ-

enza, which is raging among young and

old. Just now he is so much better that

I am going to set out with him to-morrow

to the west country, to remain at Germis-

ton for three weeks, and I hope the

change of air will restore him quite. Heis grown very tall, and speaks, I rejoice

to say, rather more intelligibly than when

you heard him last. He puts me very

much in mind of brother Charles in every-

thing. We heard from Walter and his

lady the other day. They are now in the

Dublin Barracks, the regiment having left

Cork a fortnight after they joined it. She

seems to like her new mode of life very

SCOTT LETTERS 107

much, and a great change it must be

following a regiment, from living in the

most humdrum manner with her mother,

and never seeing a soul. I think you will

like her very much, for she is really a very

sensible nice young woman.

Charles is by this time returned to Ox-

ford, after having spent the Easter holi-

days among his English friends. Amongthe rest, he had found his way to the Dukeof Buckingham's, for he is the one of

the family that is always making great

friends. Papa, Mamma, and Anne have

been at Abbotsford since the 12th of

March. I wrote to Anne to remind her

of the letters you wish, and should think

by this time you must have heard from

her, unless she has been very lazy. I amsorry you are going to leave Mrs. Bathurst's

family, as you seem attached to her, and

it is such a chance finding a comfortable

family to live with, but you must knowbest, and have some very good reason for

doing it. I think your Kensington plan

a very good one, for you are much more

108 SCOTT LETTERS

likely to hear of something that will suit

in England. Here the fashion is to send

the children to all kind of classes, with

a nursery governess to attend them, till

thirteen or fourteen, and then send them

to a French or English School. I will

write however if anything should cast up,

and hope to hear from you soon. With

best love, believe me ever to remain your

affectionate friend,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

XXIVAbbotsford,

Sunday night, [October?] 1825.

My dear Miss Millar,—I found your

letter here on my return from the Ednes,

and meant to have answered it muchsooner, but we have had so many people

here, that I have never had a moment's

time to myself, particularly as Mammahas not been very well, and had to keep

her own room a good deal, so all the

trouble of entertaining visitors has fallen

SCOTT LETTERS 109

on me. Mamma desires me to say that

she believes she is indebted to Mr.

Thistlewaite for a quantity of game that

came to her from the Highlands. Mammabegs that you will have the kindness to

thank him for it. Our tour to Ireland 1

1 The tour to Ireland, Wales, and the English Lakes was

made in July and August. A full account of it is given in

Lockhart, vol. iv., pp. 280-313, chap, lxiii. Sir Walter was

accompanied by Anne and his son-in-law, whose description

of their expedition is charming in itself, and valuable as

throwing light on the social and political condition of Ire-

land in 1825. For the travellers those seven or eight

weeks were the last of unclouded happiness which they

were to enjoy; the calamities of 1826—that annee terrible

in the history of the Scott family— were fast approach-

ing.

Lockhart modestly disclaims any intention of discussingf vexed questions of politics and administration,' but in Ire-

land these questions lie on the surface, and ' he who runs

may read.' He says that he will note c particulars moreimmediately connected with the person of Scott,' and few

pages of his book tell us more about Scott's geniality and

boyish spirits, and vivid interest in the beauties of Nature,

and in the history and inhabitants of any country in which

he travelled. He received in Ireland the heartiest welcome

from high and low ; from the Lord-Lieutenant to the poorest

'struggler,' a word which he well said ' deserves to be

classical.' At Dublin they were joined by Captain and

Mrs. Scott, and with them visited the Edgeworths at Edge-

worthstown, and saw what made Sir Walter say that 'to

talk of the misery of Ireland, at this time, is to speak of the

illness of a malade imaginaire. ' The real misery of Ireland

110 SCOTT LETTERS

is now so old a story that I can only

say I was delighted with it, and shall

always consider the time I spent there as

the happiest time I ever spent. We were

a week at the Lakes, and paid a visit

to Mr. Bolton, where we met with Mr.

Canning, with whom I was quite de-

lighted. Then we proceeded to Lowther

Castle, to pay a visit of some days. It

is a most magnificent place, and I liked

the Lonsdale family extremely. Whenwe returned we found Sophia and Johnny

much the better of the quiet life they

led in our absence. In short, dear little

he saw in Kerry, and it depressed even his buoyant spirits.

His depression, however, was frequently relieved by displays

of Irish wit and cheerfulness, which much delighted him,

and which he often ' capped ' with Scotch stories, good for

the Englishmen to read who accept the dictum of Sydney

Smith. Why did Sir Walter not write a novel about

Ireland, which he liked or loved so well ?

From Ireland they went to Wales, and thence to Winder-

mere, where Christopher North entertained them, and they

saw Wordsworth and Canning, the latter ' looking poorly,

and an old man : he had not long to live. At Keswick they

saw Southey ' in his unrivalled library,' and after visiting

Lord and Lady Lonsdale, returned to Abbotsford on Sep-

tember 1. They must have looked back, in the sad years

which followed, with fond regret to that happy time.

SCOTT LETTERS 111

Johnny is quite a different creature, and

I fain would hope that all anxiety on

his account is now over.

The Miss Russells are returned in good

health and much better spirits than I ever

expected to see them in. Jane walks and

speaks quite well. They are now staying

at Yair, but are very soon coming here,

when I shall be truly happy to see them.

Charles is at home just now, and begs to

be kindly remembered to you. He does

nothing but wage war with the Blackcock

and Partridges. He was making a tour

in the Highlands for some weeks, and re-

turned highly delighted with them. Asfor Walter, he is quite a sober married

man, never dines at mess, to the great

surprise of his brother officers, but remains

quietly at home with his wife. They went

with us to Kilarny, and also Miss Edge-

worth and her sister, when we met with

no adventures. Though everybody tried

to persuade us not to go so far South,

yet, though we even travelled very late at

night, yet everything was quite quiet, and,

112 SCOTT LETTERS

except the places where the doors were

open all night, and the beggars slept in

the passage, the accommodation was very

tolerable, and we were well repaid by the

Lakes at Kilarny, which are quite mag-

nificent. On our return we went through

Wales, which is very beautiful, and the

quiet and want of beggars made a most

agreeable variety from Ireland, where there

is great noise and many beggars. Wespent a few hours with Lady Eleanor

Butler and Miss Ponsonby, 1 who are two

very absurd-looking old ladies, dressed like

old gentlemen, in habits made like a man's

coat, and their hair cut quite short, and

powdered. They seem extremely fond of

scandal, and know everybody's death or

marriage. Lockhart's brother has given

his family great pleasure by the bride he

has chosen, who is very amiable, and has

twelve thousand pounds. Poor Mrs. Lock-

hart was in great distress at parting with

one of her sons, who has just sailed for

1 For a full account of the ' Ladies of Llangollen,' see

Lockhart's letter (vol. iii., pp. 308-10, chap, lxiii.).

SCOTT LETTERS 113

India, so the marriage of Laurance has

done her a great deal of good. By the

bye, we were very unlucky at not seeing

Mrs. Fry's brother, I forget his name, and

Lady Harriet. We were from home, and

they just left their letter of introduction,

and went on South. Is Lady Harriet as

handsome as her brother Ld. Erroll, and

her sisters, who are quite beautiful ? Sophia

and Lockhart are at Chiefswood just now,

but we see them every day. I am very

glad to hear that you like your situation,

and the young ladies being grown up must

be companions to you, which must makeit very pleasant. We have two very

pleasant visitors just now, Lady Ravens-

worth and her son Mr. Liddell ; they are

both very accomplished, and unaffected,

which makes them very pleasant to their

friends. I must now conclude, having

only left myself room to remain yours

affectionately,

Anne Scott.

I hope you will write soon, and tell us

H

114 SCOTT LETTERS

how you are going on. Pray excuse this

horrid scrawl, as I have written this in a

great hurry, as I must go to play the

agreeable to Lady Ravensworth. Mammaand Papa beg to be remembered to you.

XXV1826. 1

My dear Miss Millar,— You must

not think I have been neglectful of

1 This letter is undated : it was written probably in the

February of this sad year. The writer shows herself her

father's daughter—steadfast and hopeful, ' equal to either

fortune.' She does not underrate the calamity, but sees

that it means 'a, future life of study and labour' for her

father, ' who has done so much.' A few months before the

date of this letter, on November 20, 1825, Sir Walter had

begun his Diary, or Journal, entitled, Sir Walter Scott of

Abbotsford, Bart., his Gurnal. On the title-page he adds, as

a footnote to 'Gurnal,' C A hard word, so spelt on the

authority of Miss Sophia Scott, now Mrs. Lockhart.'

(Lockhart, vol. iv., p. 349, chap, lxv.)

The Journal is the noblest of Sir Walter's works, and

shows the real character of the man. No one, surely, can

read that record of unflinching energy and heroism, of

troubles keenly felt but bravely met, without feeling en-

couraged and strengthened to meet troubles of his own.

The Journal was kept without interruption for six years,

till his departure for Italy in 1831. It begins cheerily, and

SCOTT LETTERS 115

you. I had not been here a fortnight

when I found out your residence in Con-

naught Terrace, called, and was told it

was uncertain when you were to be in

town. Since that the many disagreeable

things that have happened amongst us

have prevented my writing to you. Youmust have seen by the papers, Constable

the bookseller, and through him, Mr. Bal-

lantyne's failure, and am sure you will

grieve to hear that Papa has lost the

greater part of his hard-worked-for for-

the entries are minute and full : it ends with a good-

humoured, if somewhat testy, paternal complaint of the

girls ' breaking loose ' and talking politics—then a dangerous

subject—in all weathers, and in all sorts of company ; and

making slaves of the naval officers at Portsmouth.

From the Journal, and from chapters Ixiv. and lxv. of

Lockhart's Life, can be gathered an account of the causes

and nature of the financial disaster which ruined Sir

Walter's life, and of the means by which he half-cleared

himself of a debt of £1.30,000, by labours which broke and

killed him. He died for a point of honour, as became a

noble gentleman. Abbotsford was saved: 'poor 39' was

sold. It is impossible, within the limits of a note, to give

even an outline of the circumstances which led to the failure

of Constable and Ballantyne. The commercial crisis of

1825, the reckless daring of Constable, the carelessness of

Ballantyne, and, it must be added, Scott's own negligence,

are sufficient explanations.

116 SCOTT LETTERS

tune by these sad events. Abbotsford,

we trust, will remain, but the house in

Castle Street is to be sold, and Mammaand Anne mean to reside constantly in

the country ; Papa only going to Edin-

burgh when his professional duties call

him, and then living in lodgings. Though

many worse things may happen to a family

besides loss of fortune, yet one cannot

but feel sorrow to think that such a manshould have to labour so hard after hav-

ing done so much. As for Lockhart and

myself, the smash has also taken what

we could ill afford, and I only wish what

you congratulate me upon were true. Hehas no Government appointment what-

ever, and came up to be the Editor of

the Quarterly Review, and we only hope

some good thing may turn up in time.

Meanwhile we have taken this house,

furnished, till next December, I having

the pleasant prospect of a confinement

before me this May. Johnny has been

extremely delicate from the effects of the

Hooping-Cough, which he had last May,

SCOTT LETTERS 117

but I trust the fine weather and milder

climate will have a good effect upon him.

The spring months here are so different

from Scotland. You may well think how

sad I was to leave home, and now, after

all this sad business, how much more

anxious I feel that we were all together,

though everything in the long run mayturn out for the best. I fain hope that

the report, for as yet it is but a report,

of Walters Regiment going to India, 1 mayturn out untrue, as it would be a great

distress to us his going, which he would

do. Charles is still at Oxford, and must

remain there some years longer, I believe.

Papa, Mamma, and Anne are in the very

best possible spirits. Papa nothing can

shake, and he looks forward with the

greatest confidence to what must be a

future life of study and labour, to makeup what is gone of his fortune, and he

has the sympathy of the whole kingdom.

Let me hear from you soon, and

1 Walter did not go to India till seven years after his

father's death.

118 SCOTT LETTERS

believe me ever to remain yours very

affectionately,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

25 Pall Mall,

Monday.

XXVIMay 19, 1826.

Abbotsford, Friday morning.

My dear Miss Millar,— I should

have written to you before this, but was

not able. All is over now, and poor

Mamma left this place for ever last Mon-

day. 1 She had been ill for many months,

but for the last two was confined to her

room. Still, though great danger was

apprehended, it was not the opinion of

the medical men that it would be so

sudden. Poor Papa was obliged to leave

her, to attend his duty in Edinburgh.

Two days after his departure, she got

1 See Journal, May 15 to May 30 ; Lockhart, vol. iv.,

pp. 507-14, chap. lxx.,passages to be read, not quoted.

Sir Walter dearly loved the wife, who, literary gossips with

strange impertinence tell us, was not good enough for him.

He found her good enough.

SCOTT LETTERS 119

much worse and suffered very great pain

indeed ; for the three last days it was so

very terrible that I thank God that I was

the only one of her family with her.

Dr. Clarkson agreed with me in not

sending for Papa till all was over, as it

would have only hurt him, and poor

Mamma was sensible to nothing but pain.

About five in the morning she fell asleep,

and so gentle were her last moments, that

I thought she was still asleep when it was

all over. You can have no idea, my dear

Miss Millar, what a blessing I felt it to

be. Had Mamma died in one of those

fits of agony, I never could have borne it.

Papa, thank God, is quite well, and both

of my brothers have been here, but were

obliged to leave us to-day. Poor Walter,

whom we did not expect, arrived at a

dreadful moment, just when the funeral

service had begun. He had travelled in

great haste from Ireland, and has suffered

much from the shock. When I was

allowed to see him on Tuesday he was

so pale and thin I could scarcely have

120 SCOTT LETTERS

known him. I see you do not know that

Sophia has been confined for more than a

month. We have had the satisfaction of

hearing that, though much distressed, she

has not suffered in her health. She is nowat Brighton, for the health of poor Johnnie,

for it has been one of the distresses of this

melancholy year, poor Johnnie's health,

which is very precarious. He is, however,

much the better of the sea air, and wehear better accounts of his health every

day. I trust the youngest boy, Walter

Scott, will be stronger. I hope to see

Sophia at Brighton in July. Papa was

obliged to go to London, and Dr. Clarkson

recommends change of air for me, as I

have not been well for a long time, 1 and

the dreadful shock I received has made

me very weak and nervous, but I now feel

the fine weather doing me good, and I am

1 See Letter xxxvu. It is doubtful whether Anne ever

fully recovered from the shock of losing her mother, any

more than she did from the shock of her father's death.

She had not the firmness of Sophia, and had been ailing

for some time. (See Letter xix., and Lockhart, vol. iii.,

pp. 507-11, chap, lxix.)

SCOTT LETTERS 121

sure in some weeks I will be as well as

possible. Papa leaves here for Edinburgh

to-morrow, but my cousin, Anne Scott,

who arrived, to my great delight, a few

days ago, and. I, will remain here for the

few weeks he must be away. Is there no

chance, my dear Miss Millar, of your being

in Scotland ? We shall be at Abbotsford,

I trust, in the middle of August, to receive

my brother and his wife ; so I hope, if you

are able, you will pay us a visit. Charles

will also be down with us, and you will

find your old friends, the Miss Russells,

settled at Ashestiel, so I think you cannot

do better than come here this summer.

I am afraid you will not be able to read

this, as I can scarcely hold my pen, but I

did not like to delay answering your kind

enquiries any longer. Papa and I unite in

kind regards, and believe me with muchesteem to remain yours affectionately,

Anne Scott.

122 SCOTT LETTERS

XXVII

25 Pall Mall,

5th November 1826.

My dear Miss Millar,— I was very

sorry indeed to have missed you on your

return from Scotland, particularly as wecame up to town only a few days after you

had called. Lockhart and myself enjoyed

our little excursion very much indeed. Wewent over from Brighton to Dieppe ; then,

after spending a day at Rouen, got to

Paris, where we remained about ten days,

seeing everything we could in that short

time, and, I assure you, we were not idle

;

and returned by Boulogne to Dover.

Since we brought John here I have not

thought him looking so well, and in con-

sequence have sent him and his nurse to

pay a visit to a relation of Lockhart 's a

few miles from town, for a fortnight. Bythat time a house we have taken on

Wimbledon Common for the winter months

will be ready to receive us, as we mean,

for John's health, to live in the country,

SCOTT LETTERS 123

and have only a lodging in town, where

Mr. Lockhart may have letters and papers

sent, and where we can remain a few days

at, when we are engaged in town. Papa

and Anne, after remaining a week with us,

went to Paris last Thursday week. 1 Weexpect them back in a few days, though I

much fear their stay will be very short, the

weary Parliament House requiring Papa's

presence in Edinburgh. I think I never

saw Papa in better health, and his spirits

quite wonderful. He dined with the King

at Windsor the day after he arrived, and

met with a most gracious reception. Youask me about my Baby Walter. 2

I assure

you he is one of the stoutest fellows for

1 They left Dover on October 26, and spent about a

week in Paris, where the French were ' literally out-

rageous in their civilities.' The object of Sir Walter's

journey was to collect additional materials for the Life of

Napoleon, now nearly finished. He probably also wished to

give Anne and himself a change of scene and surroundings,

for the summer in desolate Abbotsford must have been a

sad one. The change seems to have done both of the

travellers good. It was followed by a visit to Charles

at Brasenose, which recalled to Sir Walter the memories

of twenty-five years back, when he first saw Oxford.

(Lockhart, vol. v., pp. 51-76, chap, lxxii.)

2 Baby Walter, born 1827, became a soldier, a cornet of

124 SCOTT LETTERS

his months you ever saw : is thought very

good looking. John is certainly muchstronger, and altogether better than he

was, and I fain hope patience and care will

yet make him grow a stout boy : he is still

kept almost entirely in a horizontal position,

but as he has grown very tall, and has the

best possible spirits, I have every hope of

his doing well under Mr. Shaw's care.

With regard to Jessy Hoy, I have not

the very least remembrance of such a

name, though it may happen, seeing so

many people at Abbotsford, we may have

forgot, Anne's memory on the subject

being the same as mine. If you write

to me after the 17th of December, address

to the care of John Murray, Esq., Albe-

marle Street, as we shall have left this

house, and I do not know the Wimbledon

address. Mr. Lockhart joins me in best

compliments, and believe me to remain

very affectionately yours,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

dragoons, and died, unmarried, in 1853. He succeeded to

his uncle's estates, but not to the baronetcy, which became

extinct on the death of the second Sir Walter in 1847.

SCOTT LETTERS 125

I was quite glad to hear from Anneyou felt so comfortable in your present

situation.

XXVIII

Abbotsford,

Sunday morning, August 1827.

My dear Miss Millar,—I take a great

deal of shame to myself at not having

written to you before.

I received your letter last night, and amvery sorry indeed to hear that you are to

leave Mr. .

Have you any idea of coming down to

Scotland ? I hope if you do, that you will

pay us a visit ; we shall be at home all the

Autumn, and it will give Papa and myself

much pleasure to see you here.

In regard to your wish about another

situation, I have written this morning to

a most active, bustling, good-natured

woman, a Mrs. Hughes. Dr. Hughes is

one of the residents at St. Paul's. She is

so fond of Papa that she would do any-

126 SCOTT LETTERS

thing, or take any trouble, for him, and as

she is in good society in London, and a

dear friend of the Duchess of Buckingham,

she might be in the way of hearing of

something that might suit you. Mrs.

Murray wished a lady to educate her

children, but that, I am sure, would never

suit ; she is such a disagreeable person.

We are a very happy family party just

now ; Charles and the Lockharts are here.

Sophia is quite well ; she will remain

with us till the end of October. The

children are both here. Johnnie, I amtruly happy to say, is a very great deal

better, indeed in point of health he is as

well as possible, and the doctors say

that, when he grows up, the deformity of

the spine will never be discovered. The

youngest boy is a perfect beauty, and, what

is better, is very healthy. Charles is quite

well ; he has taken his degree at Oxford,

and, I suppose, will get some situation in

the Diplomatic Line. 1 We have been

1 Charles Scott, ' whose spotless worth tenderly endeared

him to the few who knew him intimately, and whose in-

SCOTT LETTERS 127

much shocked at the death of poor Mr.

Canning; 1 he was a very old friend of

Papa's, and he feels his loss very deeply.

dustry and accuracy were warmly acknowledged by his

professional superiors,' was appointed to a clerkship in the

Foreign Office in 1827, and in 1831 was attached to the

embassy at Naples, where he received his father on his visit

there. In 1841 he accompanied Sir John M'Neill on a

mission to the Court of Persia, and died of fever at Teheran,

almost immediately on his arrival there, in October 1841,

in his thirty-sixth year, six years before his elder brother.

(Lockhart, 'Addenda' to the Life.)1 Canning died on August 8, 1827. The news of his

death reached Abbotsford on August 10, and under date

August 11 is entered in Scott's Journal his 'appreciation'

of Canning, f the witty, the accomplished, the ambitious.'

Under date April 17, 1828, he relates a strange story,

difficult to believe, about Canning's conversion from revolu-

tionary opinions to the Anti-Jacobin faith. Scott, though a

high Tory, and, at the end of his life, a bitter one, yet

shows in 1827 that he perceived the necessity of some con-

cessions to the Whigs and Democrats. He writes :' There

are repairs in the structure of our constitution which ought

to be made at this season, and without which the people

will not long be silent : a pure Whig administration wouldprobably play the devil, by attempting a thorough repair.'

Till his nerves and judgment were impaired by overwork

and trouble, he held the most rational of political creeds,

though he would probably have scorned the name Liberal

Conservative, had it been invented in his time. His hatred

of revolution and his aristocratic sentiments were controlled

by a strong sense of justice, affection for the 'lower' classes,

as he would certainly have called them, knowledge of

their virtues as well as of their faults, and by great practical

sagacity ; for he was a man of affairs, and did not live in a

128 SCOTT LETTERS

You have the Duchess of St. Alban's

near you, I suppose. How does the poor

little Duke look ? She sent Papa a most

magnificent gold inkstand.

I daresay the marriage will turn out very

well, for, though he is a great fool, yet he

is very good-natured. Now, my dear Miss

Millar, I must conclude, as the carriage is

at the door. We have had a great deal of

company, and the house is quite full.

I do not know what I am writing, as there

is a Russian, General Yarminoff, talking

half french and half english to me, while

Papa and the other gentlemen are talking

Politicks, to say nothing of the screams of

Master Walter, whom Lockhart has put

on my chair. All this must be my excuse

dreamland of abstractions, poetical or political. Adolphus

writes (Lockhart, vol. v., p. 346, chap, lxxx.) that in his

earlier days ' Sir Walter could look manfully and philo-

sophically at those changes in the aspect of society which

time and the progress, well or ill-directed, of the humanmind were uncontrollably working out, though the innova-

tions might not in some of their results accord with his owntastes and opinions.' He wrote and spoke in favour of

Catholic Emancipation in 1829 (vol. v., p. 239, chap, lxxvii.).

Two years later he was pelted and cursed by the mob of

Jedburgh for his strenuous opposition to the Reform Bill.

SCOTT LETTERS 129

for this wretched scrawl. I hope to hear

soon from you, and with kindest regards

from Sophia, Papa, and Lockhart, believe

me to remain yours affectionately,

A. Scott.

Sophia has been also bit with the french

mania, for she has a french nursery-maid

for the little boys.

I should write to the Scotch Lady Gray,

as she is a person who is likely to knowwhat would suit you.

XXIX

My dear Miss Millar, !—I have only

an instant to tell you I wrote, the minute I

received your letter, to an English friend,

that I thought would be likely to be of use

to you, and have just received an answer

from her, wishing your present address for

a friend of hers, a Mrs. Twining, Clapham

Common, who is in want of a person to

1 This letter is worth publishing as showing Sophia's

inexhaustible kindness and patience in dealing with Miss

Millar's frequent appeals for help in trouble.

I

130 SCOTT LETTERS

instruct her young ladies, who are very

delicate. This I have sent her by this

post, so you may expect to hear from Mrs.

Twining in a day or two, and I hope her

situation will be such as you will like. Myfriend desires me to tell you a more amiable

person does not exist than Mrs. Twining,

or one who more completely considers the

happiness or comfort of all under her roof.

We are all well here, but I must conclude

in haste not to lose a post. Believe me to

remain very sincerely yours,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

Abbotsford,

Thursday, September 26, 1827.

XXXMy dear Miss Millar,—Thank you

very much for your kind enquiries. I ammuch better now, but suffered a good deal

from a cold ; however, Dr. Ross has quite

set me up again. We have been leading a

most solitary life. Papa is very busy, and,

SCOTT LETTERS 131

I think, in bad spirits about the state of

the times, and he does nothing when he

does speak but croak about them} I miss

the Lockharts and my brothers very much,

but they are all well and happy, which is

a great comfort. The Lockharts are in

London, and Johnny has gone to a day

school a few doors from Sophia. It is to

a gentleman who educates boys for Eton.

Johnny delights in the school, and they

1 See note 1, p. 127. All things were 'against him.' TheState, he thought, was on the brink of ruin ; his health

was much broken by two attacks, though slight, of apoplexy

in the spring and autumn of the year ; and he had become

conscious of the failure of his powers. He was ' shaking

hands with death,' to use his own words ; not afraid of death

so much as of the fate of Swift and Marlborough, should he

linger on 'a driveller and a show.' One thing had greatly

cheered him. At a meeting of his trustees and creditors

held on December 17, it was announced that his debt was

reduced to £54,000 ; in five years he had made, largely by

the work which had shattered his health, about £70,000.

His creditors passed the following resolution :( That Sir

Walter Scott be requested to accept of his furniture, plate,

linens, paintings, library, and curiosities ofevery description,

as the best means the creditors have of expressing their very

high sense of his most honourable conduct, and in grateful

acknowledgment for the unparalleled and most successful

exertions he has made and continues to make for them.'

He accepted the offer, the only offer of assistance he had not

rejected, in a modest, half-pathetic, half-humorous letter of

great dignity. (Lockhart, vol. v., pp. 298-99, chap, lxxix.)

132 SCOTT LETTERS

say it is surprising how much he has learnt,

poor little fellow. Little Walter also goes

for an hour(?), but he treads the path of

learning with slow steps, having only learnt

after many lessons to spell so. Baby, I amashamed to say, has got on before him in

her learning at home with the Nurse.

My brother Walter is distinguishing

himself in getting hold of the incendiaries,

etc., etc., at Birmingham, where he is quar-

tered, and I think the active life he leads

does him good, as we hear of no cough or

no complaint of any sort. Charley is at

Naples ; he is attache to our Embassy

there, and the Ambassador is so kind to

him. He has given him rooms in his

Palazzo ; in short, nothing can be happier

than Charley, and the warm climate has

quite cured his rheumatism.

You did not say if you still think of

changing your present quiet mode of life.

I hope you will pay us a visit here soon, that

is to say, if you don't object to our absolute

solitude. We have only an engagement

at Mertoun for a few days on the first of

SCOTT LETTERS 133

January ; after that time we shall be most

happy to see you. I find my cousin Henry

Scott 1 has gone without giving me a frank

for this, so I shall send it as it is, and

believe me to remain yours affectionately,

Anne Scott.

Abbotsford,

Wednesday,

[November or December ?] 1830.

XXXI

My dear Miss Millar,—I can't think

how such storms rise. There has been no

such, or nothing of that sort, though Godknows there has been distress enough.

Papa has had another attack of apo-

plexy,2 and now, though quite well, and

almost the same as when you saw him, the

1 Henry Francis Scott, younger of Harden, M.P. for

Roxburghshire, and Anue's cousin in the wide Scottish

sense.2 This attack occurred on April 16. It ' was greatly

more severe than any that had gone before it.' Anne's

words are almost the same as those in which her father

records this illness in his Diary. (Lockhart, vol. v.,

pp. 326-7, chap. Ixxx.)

134 SCOTT LETTERS

frequent occurrence of that dangerous

complaint of course must make us very

uneasy. He was in great danger one

night, and I sent for Dr. Abercrombie,

who came immediately. He did nothing,

however, as he found Dr. Clarkson had

done everything that was right, but en-

forced upon him the necessity there is of

living very low. Dr. A. says Papa's con-

stitution is so excellent that he may live

twenty years, if he will only take care of

himself. At present he lives on soup,

porridge, bread, etc., etc., but no meat, or

nothing stronger than water to drink.

Walter arrived last night, which is a

great comfort to me, and I expect Sophia

and two children upon Tuesday by the

steamboat. Lockhart is standing for some

Borough or other, but we have not heard

if he has gained his election. I wish myletter could reach you in time to take a

walk to the Pier, and see Sophia arrive, but

I fear it will be too late. She comes by

the Soho Steam Packet. It will be a

great pleasure indeed for me to see the

SCOTT LETTERS 135

children again. I am much better myself.

Dr. Abercrombie complimented me muchon my improvement, notwithstanding I

had been up three nights, but one can

do a great deal when one is well.

By the way, I must tell you, my dear

Miss Millar, that after mature deliberation

I rejected my little ,* but he has got

over it, and is going to be married, which

I am glad of, to a lady with a great deal of

money, which I found afterwards would

be very necessary, so I am sure it will

all be for the best. I need not say don't

mention this.

I have not done so, even to Walter and

Sophia, as I don't think it fair to a gentle-

man who has paid you what he considers

as great a compliment as he can pay. The

country is beginning to look so very pretty.

I hope you will come and pay us a visit in

summer, and that you will find us in a

happier state than we were when you were

here, or, I am sorry to say, now.

Still I trust in God this may also pass

1 See Introduction.

]

136 SCOTT LETTERS

away. I have had a miserable anxious

time of it.

The Russell's were well when I saw

them, and Ferguson 's much the same.

Will you tell everybody Papa is much

better. They make such horrid reports I

thought it better to tell you the truth

about apoplexy, but it will be better not

to mention it. Many people have lived

after more frequent and worse attacks than

Papa's. I have written this in great haste,

so do excuse it. I shall be glad to hear

from you again, and was most happy to

hear Mrs. Ross was better. I was muchalarmed about her. Yours very affection-

ately, A. Scott.

Abbotsford,

Sunday, May p, 1831.

XXXII

24 Sussex Place, Regent's Park,

10th January 1832.

My dear Miss Millar,—Many thanks

for your kind enquiries. We have both

SCOTT LETTERS 137

been much shocked, but are now as well

as you would expect us to be after all we

have gone through. To add to it all, the

Baby, as she still is called, fell on the stairs

a week ago, and broke her arm under the

elbow; it was set the same evening, and

she is doing as well as possible, no fever,

and as merry as possible ; but you maythink what a sad fright it gave us, par-

ticularly when nerves were far from strong.

I heard yesterday from Charles, who is at

Naples. He says the Barham with Papa,

Anne, and Walter was arrived in the bay,

but, from the strict quarantine, he was

only allowed to row round the ship, and

see them on deck. They were all well, had

remained three weeks at Malta, and been

five days on their voyage to Naples. They

were to be released from quarantine in a

few days, so I hope to receive letters

very soon. 1 have every hope change of

scene and climate will do both Papa and

Anne good : another winter at Abbotsford

would never have done for them : already

Papa is much the better of his voyage. I

138 SCOTT LETTERS

wish you saw my Walter now ; he is grown

very tall, and as handsome as ever. I

cannot say much for his learning as yet

:

he is begun to learn to read, but you knowI am no friend to early tuition, and he is

not six till the middle of April. We have

no plans fixed for next summer, but if wecome, I shall take care to let you know.

With all kind wishes from us both, believe

me to remain yours very affectionately,

C. Sophia Lockhart. 1

1 In Lockhart (vol. v., pp. 352-417, chaps, lxxx. and

lxxxi. ) an account is given of the last—not quite the last

—

days at Abbotsford ; of Sir Walter's voyage to Malta and

Naples in the Barham, a King's ship placed at his disposal

by the Admiralty ; of his visit to Rome, Florence, and

Venice, and return to England by a route which took him

through the Tyrol, and down the Rhine from Mayence.

After an absence of seven months, he reached England on

the 13th of June in a ' hopeless state of mind and body.'

About four weeks later he was taken to Abbotsford, at his

own earnest request. The return to his beloved homerevived him for a time. e

I have seen much,' he said, ' but

nothing like my ain house.' He lingered on for two months,

suffering, apparently, no bodily pain ; his mind, though hope-

lessly obscured, appeared when there was any symptomof consciousness to be dwelling on serious and solemn

things. He often murmured to himself stanzas of the ' Dies

Irae,' and of 'Stabat mater dolorosa.' On September 21 he

died, literally falling asleep.

Lockhart's description of the last year of Sir Walter's

SCOTT LETTERS 139

XXXIII

St. James's Hotel, Jermyn Street,

Saturday, June 30, 1832.

My dear Miss Millar,—My poor father

continues in the same hopeless state of

mind and body, and indeed we pray the

sad scene may soon close, as the physician

gives us no hope of his recovery, though

life is inexpressibly pathetic, the pathos heightened by the

gallant struggle he maintained against pain, depression,

and increasing infirmity. Chapters lxxx. and lxxxi. are

full of incidents of varied interest, moving alternately

laughter and tears, or something very like them; giving

glimpses of light on foreign society, and the condition of

Italy seventy years ago, and the modes of travelling in

those leisurely times. We can read in these chapters of

Wordsworth's last visit to Scott, the occasion of ' Yarrowrevisited,' and of the exquisite sonnet beginning ' A trouble,

not of clouds or weeping rain,' and ending with the charge

to the winds of ocean to ' waft to soft Partheaope ' himwith whom went the 'might of the whole world's good

wishes.' Scott's mind dwelt much on the parallel between

himself and his brother novelists, Fielding and Smollett,

who had been driven abroad by declining health ; an

ominous parallel. Wordsworth ' expressed his regret that

neither of those great masters of romance appeared to have

been surrounded with any due marks of respect in the

close of life.' It was not so with Scott. No great manwas ever received in any country with an affectionate en-

thusiasm like that with which Sir Walter was received in

Italy. Voltaire, indeed, made a triumphant entry into

140 SCOTT LETTERS

his extreme strength of body may makehis case a lingering one. Should he ever

be able to be moved from the bed he nowis on, we shall bring him down to Abbots-

ford, and I shall accompany him ; his case

is one no Physician can calculate on an

hour or a year, and, could you see him,

you would, like his family, pray the latter

might not be the great man's portion.

Anne has suffered much, and is in a very

delicate state of health, 1 and till all this

is over we cannot expect much improve-

ment.

Paris, but he must have had there bitter enemies as well

as devoted friends. Sir Walter had no enemies in Romeor Naples. The Barham, in which Sir Walter, his eldest

son, and his daughter Anne sailed, was one of the smartest

ships in the service. One smiles to read that ' the officers

of the ship thought Sir Walter must gain more addition

to his fame from having been a passenger on board the

Barham than they, or she, could possibly receive even from

having taken on board such a guest.'

It is significant that Sir Walter took but a languid interest

in classical antiquities. He called Pompeii c The City of the

Dead,' and was moved only by the sight of memorials of

feudal times, of ' battles long ago ' between knights and

Saracens, and of the romance of the Middle Ages ; by the

memorials also which he saw in Rome of a later romance,

the story of the Stuarts.

1 See Letter xxxvu.

SCOTT LETTERS 141

Both Charles and Walter are here, and

we are thankful we are all together, in a

first-rate quiet Hotel, with the best medical

assistance London can give.

Excuse shaking hand and haste, as Papa

has no nurses but his children night and

day, and believe me to remain your friend,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

XXXIVMy dear Miss Millar,—You will have

seen the melancholy termination of our

journey by the newspapers, which in this

instance tell the truth.

The medical people, finding nothing of

avail, have sent us down to Scotland, and,

thank God, we arrived here yesterday.

Poor Papa bore the journey wonderfully

well, and though he was unconscious of

being here yesterday, to-day he knewW. Laidlaw, 1 and was sensible he was in

1 He recognised Laidlaw, and, ' resting his eye on him,said, " Ha ! Willie Laidlaw ! O man, how often have I

thought of you !" ' There is some variation between Lock-

142 SCOTT LETTERS

the Hall. Should it please God to prolong

his life, he is far better here, and for mysister and myself it is such a comfort.

Lockhart is with us also. They are both

wonderfully well, and so am I, though I

suffered at first from the great rapidity

with which we travelled from Rome. I

write these few lines in his room, and it is

near four in the morning, which must be

my excuse for their being so ill written, as

I am very sleepy ; but I was sure you

would be anxious, so think it better to

write little than none, and ever believe

hart's and Laidlaw's accounts of this recognition, but they

are essentially the same. (Lockhart, vol. v., p. 422, chap,

lxxxiii., and Abbotsford Notanda, adfoiem). William Laidlaw

knew Scott for thirty years, and saw more of him and in

more varied ways than did any other of his friends. Hewas himself no mean poet ; a Border man, who helped Scott

in collecting ballads for the Minstrelsy, managed his estates,

and was his amanuensis, sometimes his literary critic, after

the beginning of 1819. There are many interesting things

in the Abbotsford Notanda ; descriptions of Scott's abound-

ing gaiety in his youth, a gaiety which he never entirely

lost ; of his strength and activity shown in rambles and

climbs with Laidlaw and the Ettrick Shepherd ; of his

personal appearance, his massive and athletic frame despite

of the lame leg ; of his long upper lip, and of the look in

his eyes, dreamy, shrewd, humorous, warlike, in his different

moods.

SCOTT LETTERS 143

me, my dear Miss Millar, to remain yours

affectionately, Anne Scott.

Abbotsford, IMh July, 1832.

XXXVAbbotsford,

September 21, 1832.

My dear Miss Millar,—You will be

distressed to hear that my poor father

died here this afternoon at one o'clock,

without much apparent suffering.

Sophia bears up very well, and Anne,

tho' much shocked, will, I trust, in time be

calmer. Very truly yours,

Charles Scott.

XXXVI

My dear Miss Millar,—I would have

written to you before this, but indeed I

was quite unable. And even now I can-

not dwell on the past without great pain,

and I know how much you must have

felt for him who is gone, and how kindly

144 SCOTT LETTERS

you do for us. I am at present staying

with Sophia, and will remain with her till

the end of winter, at least that is mypresent plan. Both Lockhart and Sophia

are quite well, and so are the children, 1

who are such a comfort and amusement.

I see the newspapers announced we were

staying at Rokeby Park. We were only

there for a few hours on our way up.

There were papers to be signed, etc., etc.

We came up to town a different road from

what we used to do, and I was very muchpleased with the Cathedral at York, which

I had never seen before. I had meant at

first to have come up by the steamboat,

and then I would have seen you, but I

dreaded even passing through Edinburgh.

I fear it will be long before I visit Scot-

land again, and I do regret many friends

I have left there, particularly the Miss

Russells, who were very kind indeed to

me during our dreadful distress. If it is

1 Hugh Littlejohn had passed away on December 15,

1831. There were only two children now in Lockhart's

house, Walter and Charlotte.

SCOTT LETTERS 145

not troublesome to you, I wish you would

write to me and say what your plans are,

but I suppose you will not stir from home

till your poor mother 's better. What a

wretched year this has been for sickness

and distress in every way, and when I

look back to it, I can scarcely believe it

possible I have gone through so manystrange and awful scenes. This day last

year we embarked for Malta, and had every

hope that change of climate would restore

him to health, but that was not Godswill ; and now, my dear Miss Millar, I must

conclude this hurried letter. Lockhart is

wanting me to help him about putting

up some books, and is very impatient.

Both him and Sophia desire to unite with

me in kind regards to you, and ever be-

lieve me to remain affectionately yours,

Anne Scott.

Friday morning, October 19, 18S2,

24 Sussex Place, Regent's Park.

K

146 SCOTT LETTERS

XXXVII24 Sussex Place,

June 26, 1833.

My dear Miss Millar,— I am sure you

will be truly distressed to hear that wehave lost your friend and pupil Ann, whodied here yesterday morning at 11 o'clock.

Poor Ann had latterly been very deli-

cate, and, I think, never recovered the

shock of my father's death. She had been

complaining and in bed for some time, but

the medical men foresaw no danger, till

about 10 days ago, when she was seized

with brain fever which terminated fatally.

Sophia bears this severe blow with firm-

ness and resignation. Walter has not yet

come from Ireland. I am with great truth

very sincerely yours,

Charles Scott.

XXXVIII

Ramsgate, 4 Spencer Place,

July 16, 1833.

My dear Miss Millar,—Your kind

SCOTT LETTERS 147

letter followed me here, where the Doctors

ordered me for change of air and warmsea-bathing, and we have taken the house

for a month or two, should we like to

remain, but the address to Sussex Place

will find me always wherever I may be.

God knows the change was very necessary

after the great shock I have received, and

time alone can reconcile, or indeed make

me feel she is gone, for it is difficult to

believe it, so sudden the danger was at

last, although she was ill all winter ; but

I must think it was the beginning of

the brain fever, which was her end. She

never suffered any pain, and for the last

four days was in a stupor ; before that,

hardly was sensible from the first. I

was alarmed, and had all the physicians in

town, and they were hopeless from the

first of perfect recovery of her senses, even

if her youth and strength of constitution

had brought her through, and God knows

that would have been worse than death.

The children are well, and enjoy the sea-

bathing very much indeed, and I am already

148 SCOTT LETTERS

much the better for it. This is a very nice

place, and we have the great comfort of not

knowing a soul, with the exception of old

Coleridge, the poet, who lives near ; and,

if we like to look at the Continent, there

are steam boats every hour. I hope you

are doing well, and have got some boarders.

I fear it will be long ere I have heart to

be in Scotland again. Charles is gone

into Wales for a month to see some of his

old school friends ; he was a great deal

better in health than I have seen him for

long. Walter is quartered at Kilkenny ; he

got leave for the funeral, but was recalled to

Ireland the day after. God bless you, dear

Miss Millar. Your affectionate friend,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

XXXIX

24 Sussex Place, Regent's Park,

ZOth February 1834.

My dear Miss Millar,—I write you a

few hurried lines by Mr. William Lock-

SCOTT LETTERS 149

hart, who goes to Edinburgh upon busi-

ness. My husband lost his poor mother

last month after a long illness ; he only

was in Scotland for the funeral, having

been obliged to return here upon business.

The children are in high form, stouter

than they have been any winter before.

We are talking of sending Walter to

school after Easter, but can hardly bear

the thought of parting with him. The

little girl is really getting very pretty, and

is very clever. Brother Walter has been

here, for a few days only, being obliged to

return to Ireland to take the command of

the regiment upon Lord 's dismissal.

I am sorry to say this does him no good

;

harm indeed, as it is a rule in the ser-

vice no officer in a regiment can rise by

his Colonel being dismissed by a Court

Martial

;

x however, he has been so highly

1 Lookhart (f Addenda ' to the Life, vol. v., p. 464) writes:

' His answers when examined as a witness before a cele-

brated Court Martial in 1834 were universally admired.'

His promotion came later when in 1839 ' he proceeded to

Madras as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 15th Hussars, and

subsequently commanded that regiment. He was beloved

150 SCOTT LETTERS

praised for his conduct and temper on the

occasion, I hope some time hence he mayhave an opportunity of being promoted.

Charles, for him, has been pretty well this

winter, although worked very hard at the

Foreign Office, Sunday and Saturday all

the same ; he hardly is able to dine with

me. I do not know what our summerplans will be : if we remain in this house a

little painting and papering will be neces-

sary, and will oblige me to go out of town

for a couple of months, but where I do not

know, and it will depend upon many cir-

cumstances. Miss Macdonald Buchanan

has been staying some time with me this

winter, to my great delight, but since her

return to Edinburgh has had the scarlet

fever, poor soul. Let me hear what you

are about, and believe me to remain yours

in haste,

Sophia Lockhart.

and esteemed in it by officers and men as much, I believe,

as any gentleman ever was in any corps of the British army,

and there was no officer of his rank who stood higher in the

opinion of the heads of his profession.' (Lockhart, Ibidem,)

SCOTT LETTERS 151

XL24 Sussex Place, Regent's Park,

1th December 1834.

My dear Miss Millar,—I am sorry

to hear so indifferent an account of your

boarder, and the more so, as I fear I can

give you no assistance in the matter. The

Countess Duchess of Sutherland, for such

she styles herself, is not in town, or, if she

were, I could hardly take the liberty of

interfering in her family arrangements ; it

must be done by a mutual friend, or a

relative of both parties, and were it done,

I fear, if she is so flighty as you represent

her, all would not do. I was very sorry to

miss you, but hope another year to return,

should a general election take place, of

which there is every prospect. A month

hence Lockhart will have to make a run

down to Roxboroughshire to vote, but I

should not think will have time to visit

Edinburgh. I shall remain here quietly.

We enjoyed our little tour in Scotland,

and six weeks we spent at Rokeby on our

152 SCOTT LETTERS

return, very much, and it did us all a world

of good. We found our house quite

beautiful, all new painted and papered

;

it is a dreadful operation to anticipate, but

so comfortable when done. Walter has

returned to school, which is better than a

mile from this. He lives there, but comes

home every Saturday, and returns Sunday

evening; he likes it much, and grows a

stout boy, and very handsome. Charlotte

also goes across the street to a ladies' school

for a few hours a day, and gets on very

well ; she is very clever, and will be very

pretty. I wish I could have shown you

both, but Inverleith Place was such a dis-

tance. I saw few or none of my friends

the few days I was in town. Charles is

in town, hard-worked at the Foreign

Office ; I hope amidst all these changes

something may turn up good for him. I

think he is in better health than I have

before seen him this winter. Walter is

stationed at Dublin with his regiment,

and, as the Colonel is absent on leave,

there is no chance of his coming over this

SCOTT LETTERS 153

winter. I am almost ashamed to send a

letter with no news, but none is here. Peel

is expected to-day, or may have arrived

last night, and then the fate of the Tory

side will be decided ; should the Ultras

join Sir Robert, he will do, but if a split

takes place, all is over; he will not have

six months' reign.1

I trust to hear you have a more promis-

ing boarder than Miss Stuart, and shall be

most glad to hear from you. Meantime I

always am very affectionately yours,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

XLI

24 Sussex Place,

14//i April 1835.

My dear Miss Millar,—Being so far

from the spot, I feel it almost impossible

to form an opinion as to what you should

do about your house. I think, were I

1 Sophia proved herself a prophetess, and capable of' intelligent anticipation.' The position of her husband as

Editor of the Quarterly Review must have given her access

to much political information.

154 SCOTT LETTERS

you, I should run no risk, unless you had

the promise of more stationary and richer

lodgers than Miss Stuart. I have been so

long from Edinburgh, I feel I know no-

body there, and hardly the ways, and fear

I can be of no use, however willing. If

you indeed could get some young people

who were to be educated, it might answer,

but I know of none at present wanting

that accommodation. I believe Walter

hopes to get leave for a month, and spend

it at Abbotsford, but there is not the very

least chance of our being there, or in Scot-

land, this year. We shall only be absent

from London the six weeks of little

Walter's holidays, and these will be spent

at the seaside, likely at Boulogne. The

pain of seeing Abbotsford in its changed

state would be so great, that I now fancy

nothing would tempt me to visit it again,

not a creature left in the neighbourhood

I knew, except poor Margaret Ferguson,

and the poor soul is not very sane. Our

children are stronger this year than usual

;

Walter, a great tall boy, will be nine years

SCOTT LETTERS 155

old this week : he is at school near us, but

returns home every Saturday and Sunday.

Charlotte also spends a few hours every

day at a ladies' school close by, and both

are doing as well as possible at their

studies, and the best possible children.

Charles is in the Foreign Office ; as usual

very busy, but in better health this spring

than the former ones, it being always a

trying time of the year to him. It has

been a very unhealthy winter ; fevers, small-

pox, and all sorts of bad things raging, and

nobody escaping Influenza. The Skenes

are at Leamington for the health of their

second daughter, who now is going to get

well. I shall be glad to hear what you

determine to do, and remain, dear Miss

Millar, very affectionately yours,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

XLII

My dear Miss Millar,— I write to you

only a few lines to assure you I shall,

should I hear of anything that I think

156 SCOTT LETTERS

would suit you here, let you know, but I

fear I am not likely. The fashion is here

so decidedly to send girls to schools when-

ever they cease to be quite children ; and

there is a good reason for it in London.

Residents' children are so much better in

the neighbourhood of town than in town

itself, and families (I speak generally of

those I know) employ, whilst children are

young, a daily governess, which would

never suit you in any respect, and, unless

a certain bargain were made, would be a

great risk. I can only again say, should I

hear of anything likely, I shall let you

know. Our plans are quite undecided for

the summer, but I think we shall a month

hence go to the seaside, where unknown.

Lockhart, I am sorry to say, has had a bad

attack of Lumbago, which has made him

look thin and worn, but a little sea air, or,

what is better for him, his going abroad

for a month and leaving me and the

children by the seaside in this neighbour-

hood, will, I trust, quite set him up. The

children are quite well—Walter at school

SCOTT LETTERS 157

and Charlotte going to a ladies' school

across the street for a few hours a day.

Walter only comes home Saturday, and

remains until Sunday evening at home.

Charles has been unwell, but this very

cold weather is death to rheumatic people,

and he has been better this season than

he has ever been before in England.

Walter is in Ireland, and I hardly think

will be in Scotland this year. Let mehear from you should you close with any-

thing that will suit you. Our address

here will find us wherever we go, and

believe me to remain yours very sincerely,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

24 Sussex Place, Regent's Park,

1st June 1835.

XLIII

24 Sussex Place, Regent's Park,

30th March 1836.

My dear Miss Millar,—I take this

private opportunity of writing you a few

lines to express my pleasure at receiving

158 SCOTT LETTERS

your letter that you were fairly domiciled

at Charleton. I had a long letter from

Miss Adam on the subject, and feel sure

you cannot fail to be comfortable with any

relation of such good people. With regard

to our being in Scotland this summer, it is

likely, and I am determined, if we do, to

pay a visit to Blair Adam, so shall, I hope,

be able to see you. Our children are well

in health, and have got over winter without

hardly a cold, and, partial though I must

be, 1 think you will be much pleased with

them in all respects. Walter is very tall,

all his curls cut off, which is distressing

;

but, in spite of having lost the beauty of

childhood, and not attained that of boy-

hood, he is a boy no one can overlook,

and every day, more and more reminds

me of my father. He is getting well on

at school, and, if spared to us, will never

have cost an anxiety, except for health,

for a more honourable high-spirited child

never lived. Both have this character,

and I am sure you would be delighted

with them. Walter I expect to-day from

SCOTT LETTERS 159

school for Easter week, and we are all very

happy. Charles has suffered very much

this winter from violent inflammation in

his eyes, but is better, and returned to

his work at the Foreign Office. He thinks

himself better now in health than before

the attack, but it has been long and very

severe. Walter is with his regiment in

Ireland. There is a report that they will

be ordered to India next year;perhaps it

would be the best thing that could happen

to either of my brothers, but it would be

a sad parting. And now, dear Miss

Millar, I must not lose my opportunity

of sending you these few lines, and con-

clude in haste, remaining very sincerely

yours,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

XLIV

63 Grande Rue, Boulogne-sur-Mer,

1th August 1836.

My dear Miss Millar,—Your letter

was forwarded to me here, where we have

160 SCOTT LETTERS

been a month, and I believe shall remain

till the middle or end of October. Walter

was so ill in London, a sort of influenza

followed by low fever, that the Dr.

ordered us to the seaside without losing a

day, and we liked this place so much last

year that we determined to return, the

short distance (only twelve hours' sail from

London) being a very great inducement.

It has had the desired effect, for Walter

gets stronger every day, and swims in the

sea ; in short, one would not believe he

had been ill. Charlotte also thrives, and

we all feel much stronger of the sea-

bathing. I am very sorry to hear you are

again in want of a situation, and think

Mrs. Thomson should have mentioned, be-

fore she engaged you, her probable plan on

Miss Thomson's recovery. I am quite out

of the way here of hearing of anything,

not knowing anybody, but you may depend

upon my writing to you, should anything

by chance turn up I think would suit you.

The weather here was cold and unsettled

for a fortnight, but is now quite beautiful,

SCOTT LETTERS 161

and so warm. I hear that my brother

Walter and his wife are to be at Abbots-

ford upon the 20th of this month, to remain

a month. He wishes us all much to join

him there, but Charles has had his holidays,

and will get no farther leave, and I being

here makes it out of the question. It maybe Mr. Lockhart may go down for a few

days, as he has some business, but that

will only be if he can spare the time. Atany time, if you address to me Sussex

Place, it will be forwarded, and most truly

happy shall I be to hear you have heard

of anything comfortable. With all good

wishes, believe me to remain very affection-

ately yours,

C. Sophia Lockhart.

XLVLondon,

May 15, 1837.

Dear Miss Millar,—I know how very

sincerely you will sympathise with mewhen I tell you that your friend Sophia

continues, as she has been for more than

L

162 SCOTT LETTERS

two months past, in a very dangerous state.

Indeed there is, I fear, but the most

slender chance of her recovery. My only

comfort at present is that she does not

suffer much pain, but all through this long

illness nothing could have been more com-

plete than her sweetness, and patience,

and thankfulness.

I received a little while ago your very

welcome transcripts of Sir Walter's letters

to yourself, and let me say that it would

afford me a great tho' melancholy satis-

faction to possess similar copies of Sophia's

early letters, of which you speak so

highly. 1

Be assured that, should anything likely

to suit your views come under my notice,

I shall not fail, for her sake and for your

own, to do my best for your service. Andbelieve me ever very truly yours,

J. G. Lockhart.

1 It is certain, in my opinion, that some at least of the

letters in this collection were transcribed, and the copies

sent to Lockhart, and used by him when he wrote the Life.

Verbal coincidences are sufficient proof that they were part

of his materials.

SCOTT LETTERS 163

XLVISussex Place, London,

May 17, 1837.

Dear Miss Millar,—I grieve to inform

you that we have lost your old friend and

pupil, my sister Sophia, who died this morn-

ing at 3 o'clock, after an illness of 3 months.

I send this to Mr. Cadell, trusting that

he knows your address. I am always very

truly yours, Charles Scott.

XLVII

»

Leeds Barracks,

December 18, 1837.

Dear Miss Millar,—I got your letter

this morning, and have written to LadyScott, who is at Mr. Ritchie's, 68 Constitu-

tion Street, Leith, mentioning your wishes,

and should she hear of anything likely to

suit you, she will not fail to acquaint you.

I had the great pleasure of spending nearly

1 On the last few letters published here little or noannotation has been made. They are either too sacred for

comment, or written about matters of simple family history

which need no explanation. The annotator feels—to com-pare small things with great, small, that is, in authorship,

though not in subject—as Thackeray felt when he finished

The Newcomes, and, as if he were parting from friends, said

good-bye to Laura and Arthur, and Etbel and Clive.

164 SCOTT LETTERS

three months at Abbotsford, the first long

period of leave that I have been able to

spend there, since I left it in 1818, and,

although living only in a corner of it, still

it was a great luxury to be there at all.

There is a great deal of excitement and

bad feeling through all this Riding about

the New Poor Laws, which keep us in

constant hot water, as, whenever a meeting

is held, troops are moved up, and concen-

trated, and this takes place very frequently

;

so whether I shall be able to fulfil myintentions of being in Edinburgh early

next month for a little or not, is still very

doubtful ; should I, however, succeed in

getting away, I shall not fail in calling

upon you. The most warlike sound of

'Pots off' strikes upon my ear, and warns

me to conclude, if I wish to come in for

fish and soup. I remain therefore in haste

yours truly, Walter Scott.

Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty

at the Edinburgh University Press

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